Names of Australian Male Paralympic Medalists

28 Sunday Oct 2012

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Anglo-Saxon names, Arabic names, Arthurian legends, Arthurian names, Cornish names, Croatian names, Disney names, english names, epithets, European name popularity, famous namesakes, French names, Gaelic names, germanic names, Irish names, K.M. Sheard, Latin names, locational names, mythological names, name history, name meaning, name popularity, names of organisations, Old Irish names, Old Norse names, Pictish names, popular culture, popular names, Roman names, royal names, saints names, Scottish names, South American name popularity, surname names, Welsh names

Bruno (Moretti)

Bruno Moretti won silver in table-tennis at the 1960 Paralympics, and a gold and two silvers in athletics at the 1964 Paralympics. Bruno is a Germanic name meaning “brown”. The name was used by the nobility in medieval Europe, and there are several saints named Bruno. One of them is Saint Bruno of Cologne, who was the son of Saint Matilda. He was Duke of Lotharingia and Archbishop of Cologne, and his court in Cologne was an intellectual and artistic centre. Bruno was also the given name of two popes – Gregory V and Leo IX. Bruno has a long history of use in Europe, and today is Top 100 in Croatia, Catalonia, Spain, and Chile. It’s also a common surname in Italy, and Giardano Bruno was a Dominican friar, philosopher, mathematician and astronomer, who suggested that the Sun was a star, and the universe had infinite worlds, populated by intelligent beings. He went down very badly with the Spanish Inquisition, who had him burned him at the stake. Today he is regarded as a martyr to science. Bruno is a warm cuddly-sounding name, and seems to be a popular choice for bears, both real and fictional.

Cody (Meakin)

Cody Meakin grew up playing both rugby union and Australian rules football; he broke his back in a rugby scrum, and while still in high school, became quadriplegic after a car accident. He took up wheelchair rugby in 2010, where he became an international champion. He won gold at the London Games this year. Cody is derived from the Gaelic surname Ó Cuidighthigh, meaning “son of Cuidightheach”. Cuidightheach is an Old Irish epithet meaning “helpful”. The most famous person with the surname must be “Buffalo Bill” Cody, an American frontiersman who became a celebrity for his Wild West touring shows; these introduced the concept of the American West to Britain and Europe. Buffalo Bill was a supporter of Native American rights, women’s rights and conservation, making him a very modern namesake, as well as giving the name Cody an “American West” feel. In the 1990 Disney film, The Rescuers Down Under, the boy from the Australian outback is named Cody. Cody first charted in the 1970s, and was top 100 by the 1990s. It peaked in the early 2000s at #59, and only left the Top 100 last year, when it dropped to #124.

Dylan (Alcott)

Dylan Alcott has been paraplegic from birth due to a spinal tumour, and began playing wheelchair basketball in 2003. He won gold at the 2008 Paralympics, and silver at this year’s London Games. Dylan is a Welsh name which is difficult to translate exactly, but very roughly means “flood, wave, tide”. In Welsh mythology, Dylan Ail Don was a blond god of the sea, and his epithets were “son of the wave” and “son of the sea”. In the legends, he is killed, and it’s said that the sound of the waves is the sea lamenting his death. The name became well known outside Britain due to the Welsh poet Dylan Thomas, who was named after the god. In Welsh, his name is pronounced DUL-uhn, but Thomas himself preferred the Anglicised pronunciation of DIL-uhn. Thomas’ emotionally powerful yet tightly controlled verse was admired by a young American named Robert Zimmerman, who promptly changed his name to Bob Dylan. As Dylan went on to become a folk balladeer, protest singer and counter-cultural icon, the name Dylan ended up with a double helping of street cred. Dylan first charted in the 1960s and reached the Top 100 in the 1980s. It peaked in the early 2000s at #17, and is currently #41.

Erik (Horrie)

Erik Horrie was left paraplegic after a car accident in 2001, and became involved in wheelchair basketball, but last year switched to canoeing. He won a silver medal at the 2012 London Games, and also welcomed his son Lewis. Erik is derived from Old Norse, and interpreted as “only ruler, eternal ruler, eternal power”. It has been heavily used in the royal houses of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, the most famous to us being Erik the Red, who explored a little-known country, called it Greenland, and became its head chieftain. King Erik IX of Sweden is considered to be a saint, and according to legend was martyred while attending a church service. The name Erik was used in England by the Anglo-Saxons, and settlers from Scandinavia but only became popular in the form Eric in the 19^th century, thanks to an earnestly moralising book called Eric, or Little by Little. Other fictional Eriks include the Phantom of the Opera and Erik the Viking from the Monty Python film.

Fabian (Blattman)

Fabian Blattman became paraplegic after a motorcycle accident, and took up wheelchair athletics to improve fitness. One of our most successful Paralympians, he has set several world records. He won a silver and bronze in 1992, a gold and a silver in 1996, and a gold, silver and bronze in 2000. The name Fabian is derived from the Roman family name Fabius, one of the most ancient noble houses of Rome. According to legend, the Fabii claimed descent from Hercules, and were shepherds who followed founding father Remus. Their name is said to be from the Latin word for “broad bean”, a vegetable that the Fabii were supposedly the first to cultivate. The surname Fabianus was given to freed slaves who had been owned by the Fabii, and Fabian is from this name. It was introduced to England by the Normans, but never became as popular there as its equivalents in Continental Europe. There is a 3^rd century Saint Fabian, who was elected pope by a dove; despite this unorthodox beginning, he was highly-regarded and worked hard for the early church. The Fabian Society gives this name a left-wing edge; the socialist organisation took its name from the Roman general Fabius Maximus, who wore Hannibal down by attrition rather than engaging in head-on battle.

Jago (Mikulic)

Jago Mikulic was a blind athlete who competed at the 1976 Paralympics, and won a silver in javelin and a bronze in the pentathlon. Jago is a Croatian form of James or Jacob, and is said YAH-go. It can also be a Cornish form of those names, but is pronounced JAY-go in this case. However, the Welsh form Iago is very old and predates the common use of Biblical names in Britain; K.M. Sheard suggests that it may be from the Celtic word for “ice”. If so, this would give Cornish Jago another possible origin.

Kerrod (McGregor)

Kerrod McGregor was a track and field Paralympian who won two golds, three silvers and two bronzes at the 1984 Paralympic Games, one gold in 1988, and one silver in 1996. Kerrod is an English surname that can be derived from the village of Curridge in Berkshire, with the village’s name meaning “Cusa’s ridge”. Cusa was a common Anglo-Saxon name, but what it meant I have been unable to discover. Another possible origin is the hamlet of Kerridge in Cheshire, which means “key ridge” – Kerridge Ridge is one of the foothills of the Pennines. The surname seems to have been most common in Yorkshire. The name Kerrod is well known in Queensland from former NRL star Kerrod Walters, who had a twin brother named Kevin.

Nazim (Erdem)

Nazim Erdem was born in Turkey and came to Australia early in life. As a kid, he practised holding his breath under water as a little game with himself. At the age of 20 he dived into shallow water in an effort to impress some girls; he was underwater for two and a half minutes before being rescued, and his technique of holding his breath saved his life. After the accident, he was quadriplegic. He began playing wheelchair rugby in 1992, and won silver medals at the 200 and 2008 Paralympics, and a gold at the London Games. Nazim is an Arabic boy’s name which means “organiser, convenor”, and as a title, loosely corresponds to the word “mayor” in English. The name isn’t uncommon in Turkey, and Nâzım Hikmet was a charismatic Turkish writer, a leader of the literary avant-garde who was often arrested for his revolutionary political beliefs, and spent much of life in prison or exile. His poetry and his struggles for peace are widely admired in Turkey and outside it; some of his poems have been turned into songs by folk singers such as Joan Baez and Pete Seeger. The name is pronounced NAH-zim.

Rene (Ahrens)

Rene Ahrens won a bronze in discus in 1980 and 1988. René is the French form of the Latin Renatus, meaning “born again, reborn”, referring to the act of baptism, and a popular choice for early Christians. René was a name used by the French aristocracy, and the name is known to us through the philosopher René Descartes (“I think therefore I am”). There is a Saint René Goupil, a French missionary to Canada who is one of the rare North American martyrs. The name is pronounced reh-NAY. Although the feminine form Renee has been popular in Australia, masculine Rene remains very rare here – no doubt partly because it could easily be confused with the girl’s name.

Tristan (Knowles)

Tristan Knowles lost his leg at the age of 9 as a result of cancer, and also lost a lung at the age of 11. He has been playing wheelchair basketball since 1999, and in 2002 was named the NSW Wheelchair Basketballer of the Year. He won silver in 2004, gold in 2008, and a silver at this year’s Paralympic Games in London. Tristan is a Cornish hero of Celtic folklore who is also one of King Arthur’s knights of the Round Table. He is best known as the lover of the beautiful Irish princess Iseult (or Isolde). Iseult was to marry Tristan’s uncle, King Mark of Cornwall, but she and Tristan accidentally drank a love potion that had been prepared for Mark and his bride to share. The two became hopelessly infatuated with each other and embarked on a passionate affair, until Tristan was banished from Cornwall by an understandably irate Uncle Mark. The story was enormously popular in the Middle Ages, and is one of the forerunners to the story of adulterous lovers Lancelot and Guinevere. The name Tristan was yet another revived in the Victorian era, thanks to Tennyson, and the poems he wrote based on Arthurian legends. In the story, Tristan’s name is supposed to be linked with triste, the French word for “sad”, to fit in with his tragic love life. However, it is a form of the Pictish name Drust, which means “riot, tumult”. Drust was a traditional name amongst the royalty of Scotland, and it’s quite a puzzler as to how a Cornish story ended up with a hero with a Scottish name. Some claim that Tristan was a real person, pointing to a 5^th century stone in Cornwall, which is supposed to be the grave marker for someone named Drustanus, the son of Cunomorus. Titillatingly, Cunomorus is said to be King Mark himself, suggesting that Tristan and Iseult’s step-incest was even closer and creepier (although his uncle was also his adoptive father anyway). Tristan and Iseult are two literary characters I’ve never been able to warm to, as their actions are so selfish; perhaps the story is trying to tell us that nobody does very well out of an infatuated love affair, not even the lovers themselves. Tristan first charted in the 1960s, and has managed to reach #100 twice, in the 1980s and late 2000s. It’s currently #123.

(Photo of Dylan Alcott celebrating victory from Zimbio)

The People’s Choice of Boy’s Names

23 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by A.O. in Name Themes and Lists

≈ 15 Comments

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African-American names, alphanumeric names, American slang, anagram names, Anglo-Saxon names, animal names, aristocratic names, Australian Aboriginal names, Australian slang terms, banned names, bird names, birth notices, Bonds Baby Search, celebrity baby names, computer hacker names, controversial names, created names, english names, famous namesakes, germanic names, Google, Greek names, historical records, Indian names, J.R.R. Tolkien, locational names, Maori names, meteorological names, middle names, mythological names, name history, name meaning, nature names, nicknames, Old English names, Old Norse, polynesian names, popular culture, royal names, saints names, scandinavian names, slang terms, Spanish dialect words, surname names, tree names, unisex names, US name popularity, vintage names, vocabulary words, Welsh names

Adolf

A form of the Germanic name Adalwolf, meaning “noble wolf”. The Old English form is Æthelwulf, and there are a few famous men of this name in English history, most notably the father of Alfred the Great. The name was often used amongst the royal houses of northern Europe, and the Latinised form Adolphus turns up in the monarchy of the United Kingdom. There is a saint called Adolf of Osnabrück, a 9^th century German monk. Up until the mid-twentieth century, the name was common in central and northern Europe, and can be found in Australia due to immigration from Germany and Scandinavia. The reason this name has been included is because barely a day goes by without someone Googling: “Is it legal to call your child Adolf?”, to which I can say, yes, it is legal here, and you can find quite a few Australians in the records with this name – including ones born during and shortly after World War II. I have met a man named Adolf (born around the early 1960s), and I believe he was named after his grandfather. The other chestnut is, “Is it legal to call your child Adolf Hitler in Australia?” to which I reply, Why would you want to do that? Seriously, why? As the name Ned Kelly is banned because he is considered too wicked, I’m pretty sure Adolf Hitler would also be illegal here.

Buster

This spunky name has more history than you might think. In England, it was first used in the middle position; Buster is a variant of the surname Bustard, after the bird. In 18^th century America, it seems to have been more common for African-Americans, and may have started as a pet name in the sense of “breaker”. Later it took on the meaning of “unusual, prodigious, amazing”. Buster is used to address males in the same way as pal or fella (“Now listen up, buster”). This comes from the Spanish dialect busté, meaning “you”. It’s gone on to have negative connotations. One of the most famous men with this name is actor Joseph “Buster” Keaton, who started his career in vaudeville as a small child. He claimed to have received his nickname as a toddler from Harry Houdini, after falling down a flight of stairs unhurt. Houdini allegedly remarked, “That was a real buster!”, meaning “a fall with the potential to cause injury”. So Keaton’s name indicated he was tough enough to take a tumble. Buster Brown was a cartoon strip boy who was an angelic-looking blond prankster. In Australian slang, come a buster means to fall or fail by misfortune, while buster is a term for a strong wind – especially the Southerly Buster. This is a name Sydneysiders give to the abrupt cool change that sometimes blows in from the south during the warmer months. Vintage name Buster has recently become rather an Australian favourite for boys, although in the novel, The Shiralee, by D’arcy Niland, Buster is a little girl.

Chester

Chester is a city in Cheshire, England, founded by the Romans as a fortress in 79; its size has led some historians to speculate that the Romans intended it to be the capital, rather than London. Its current name comes from the Old English Ceaster, meaning “Roman fort”, and its early history was very military, with wars seemingly constant. Even King Arthur is supposed to have won a major battle here, and it was the last city to fall to the Normans during the Conquest. Today it’s a thriving modern city which still tries to preserve its historic buildings. Chester has been used as a personal name since the 16^th century, probably after the surname, although early births in Cheshire suggest they may have been named directly for the city itself. Although it’s been a popular name in the US in its time, and only left the Top 1000 in the mid-1990s, for some reason it never caught on in a big way here. I was surprised to see it on a baby in the Bonds Baby Search Competition this year. For some reason, this baby name is often Googled, although the slang term chester is an impediment to its use.

Digby

An English surname from a place name meaning “settlement by the ditch”, derived from a combination of Old English and Old Norse. The name seems to have been first given in honour of the aristocratic Digby family, Anglo-Irish peers whose family seat in Coleshill, Warwickshire was granted to them by Henry VII. It is from the town of Coleshill that the personal name originates in the 17^th century. One of the most famous of this clan was Sir Kenelm Digby, a Catholic philosopher considered a great eccentric for his exuberant personality and fascination with science, which extended to studying alchemy, astrology and magic (not considered incompatible with science then); he was the first person to note the importance of oxygen to plants. A man of action as well as thought, he became a privateer, and killed a man in a duel; he also wrote several cookbooks, invented the modern wine bottle and managed to fit in a secret romance to a famous beauty which led to their marriage. A true all-rounder. This name regularly appears in birth notices here, especially from Victoria, and may be encouraged by comedienne Cal Wilson, who welcomed a son named Digby a few years ago. People seem to either loathe this name or find it irresistibly cute; I must confess to being in the second category.

Elfyn

This is the Welsh form of the Old English name Ælfwine, meaning “elf friend”; it went out of use after the Norman Conquest. J.R.R. Tolkien liked to think of the name as meaning “friend of the elves”, and invented two fictional characters with this name who formed close bonds with elves. Modern forms include Alvin and Elvin, both taken from the surname form of the name. There are several famous people in Wales with Elfyn as either their first name or surname, including young rally driver Elfyn Evans and poet Menna Elfyn. For reasons I cannot explain, it is Googled several times a week.

Jharal

Jharal Yow Yeh is an NRL star who plays for the Brisbane Broncos. An Aboriginal Australian from the Margany people of Queensland, he also has Torres Straits Islander, Vanuatuan and Chinese heritage. Now aged 22, he has been playing for the Broncos since 2009, for the Indigenous All-Stars since 2010, and for both the Queensland state team, the Maroons, and the Australian national side, the Kangaroos, since last year. Early this season he sustained a serious leg injury, and is still recovering. People Google Jharal’s name all the time, asking for its meaning, and often querying whether it’s of Indigenous origin. In fact, his name was created for him by his grandmother. His mother couldn’t decide what to call him, so she asked nana Iris to name him. Iris cleverly arranged the letters of all the strongest men in her family into a name, and came up with Jharal. It is taken from the initials of James, Harold, Anthony, Reece, Arthur and Linc. The name is pronounced JHUH-rahl, and Iris says that most people think it is an Indian name. In fact, by coincidence, a jharal is a mountain goat from India. Names created for celebrities often seem too unique for others to use, but I have seen Jharal a few times in birth notices recently. Looking for a nickname? Jharal is known to his family as Joe.

Koa

This unisex name has several different origins. There is a Hawaiian male name Koa meaning “strong, brave, fearless”, and it’s also the name of a Hawaiian tree, the Acacia koa. The wood was traditionally used to make dug-out canoes and certain types of surfboards. In Maori, the word koa means “happiness”. In the Kaurna language of South Australia, the word koa means “crow”, and the Koa people come from south-east Queensland, so it’s also a tribal name. There has been a sudden proliferation of this name in Australian birth notices, and that might be because Tom Dumont from No Doubt welcomed a son named Koa last year. However, I am beginning to see far more girls named Koa in birth notices than boys. This may be because of model and actress Koa Whelan, a contestant on this year’s dating show, Please Marry My Boy. I think this works equally well for boys and girls, although the first meaning is male only.

Neo

This is from an Ancient Greek prefix meaning “new, young, fresh”. It turns up in words such as neonatal, meaning “pertaining to the newborn”, or neologism, meaning “a freshly coined word”. The name has become well-known since 1999 because Neo is the protagonist of the cyberpunk Matrix film series. In the films, the character’s name is Thomas Anderson, and Neo is his computer hacker identity (Anderson does have the letters N, E and O in it). Neo is also an anagram of One, and the films seek to discover whether Neo is “The One”, a Messiah-like figure who will be able to rescue humanity. The films have become cult classics, and intermingle a range of philosophical and spiritual ideals from the East and the West – it’s even spawned its own religion, Matrixism. From the amount of times that people have Googled neo baby name or neo for a boy, there are quite a few parents considering using this name. Neo fits right in with current trends, and doesn’t sound any stranger than Leo. It is very strongly associated with the film character though. However, Australians have a solid history of gaining name inspiration from the movies, and most of The Matrix series was filmed in Sydney, giving it an Australian connection.

Rune

A Scandinavian name derived from Old Norse meaning “secret”. The runes are the letters of the runic alphabets, which were used to write different Germanic languages, dating from at least the first or second century AD. Runic inscriptions seem to have been for magical and divinatory use, and perhaps their knowledge was restricted to an elite in early times. According to Norse mythology, the runes were originally stolen from the god Odin. They are part of English history, because the Anglo-Saxons had their own runic alphabet. If you have read The Hobbit, you will have seen Anglo-Saxon runes used on a dwarven map; Tolkien later invented his own runic alphabet which appears in The Lord of the Rings. Rune stones are used for divination today, often in a similar way to tarot cards. The name isn’t unusual in Scandinavia, and you may know the name from the Polish speedway rider Rune Holta, born in Norway. I think this is a simple, attractive name with layers of history and meaning.

Zephyr

A zephyr is a light, warm wind. It comes from the name Zephyrus, who was the Greek god of the west wind – the gentlest of breezes, which served as a harbinger of spring. He married both Iris, the goddess of the rainbow, and Chloris, the goddess of flowers – who is also seen as a deity of spring (and named Flora by the Romans). Children may know the name as that of a bat in the Silverwing book series, and, in the form Zephir, as the monkey in the Babar the Elephant stories. Grown ups may be reminded of The Zephyr Song by the Red Hot Chilli Peppers. If you take the name as derived directly from the god, then it is male, but if you accept it as a nature name and vocabulary name, it is unisex. It only seems to be Googled to my blog as a male name however. Pronounced ZEF-uhr, this name is unsual but not outrageous; it seems like a breezy alternative to popular Z names like Zachary, Zeke or Zane. The obvious nickname is Zeff or Zeffy.

(Picture shows actor Keanu Reeves in his role of Neo from The Matrix; Sydney skyline in background)

The People’s Choice of Girl’s Names

16 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by A.O. in Name Themes and Lists

≈ 14 Comments

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Australian Aboriginal names, Biblical names, birth announcements, celebrity baby names, doll names, Dutch names, English idioms, english names, famous namesakes, fictional namesakes, Finnish names, French names, germanic names, Google, Google searches, hebrew names, Hungarian name popularity, Hungarian names, Indian names, Irish name popularity, Irish names, Japanese names, locational names, mythological names, name history, name meaning, name popularity, Native American names, nicknames, Polish name popularity, Polish names, popular culture, royal names, saints names, Sanskrit names, Slavic names, Spanish names, tribal names, Turkish names, UK name popularity, unisex names, US name popularity, Visigothic names, vocabulary names, Welsh names

I have been trying to add Featured Names from those in the search terms, when possible. To celebrate the start of spring, I’m choosing ten names for each gender that people have used as search terms to reach my blog. I tried to concentrate on those that had been Googled multiple times, or which had questions attached to them, and I’ve chosen names which don’t make the Top 100.

Of course, if you would like to see a particular name featured on the blog, you don’t need to type it into a search engine and cross your fingers – you can always e-mail me directly and put in a request.

Arya

Arya is a unisex Indian name which means “noble, honourable” in Sanskrit. Common in India, it’s become known in the English-speaking world through two fantasy novelists. In George R.R. Martin’s A Song of Fire and Ice series, Lady Arya Stark is a beautiful free-spirited noblewoman who leads a very adventurous life. In Christopher Paolini’s Inheritance cyle, Arya Dröttning is an elf, later queen of the elves, and the romantic interest of the hero, Eragon. Both these characters are strong and independent, good at swordplay, horse-riding and taking care of themselves. Although there are several famous men and women in India called Arya, English-speakers probably think of it as a female name, because of the fictional characters. The Indian pronunciation is AHR-yuh, but both Martin’s and Paolini’s ladies say their names AHR-ee-uh (I’m basing this on how they are said in the TV series and the movie, as some written guides suggest AR-ee-uh or AYR-yuh). So there’s quite a selection of pronunciations. Arya recently joined the US Top 1000, and is currently #711. It would make a good heritage choice, or else an attractive literary name.

Carmel

Mount Carmel is a mountain range in Israel, and its name means “garden”. Our Lady of Mount Carmel is the title given to the Virgin Mary in her role as patroness of the Carmelite Order. The first Carmelites were Christian hermits who lived on Mount Carmel during the 12^th century, and built a chapel dedicated to the Virgin Mary. They were approved as an order devoted to contemplative prayer, but didn’t stay in the Holy Land for long. They soon made their way to Sicily and Cyprus, and from there throughout Europe. Carmel was first used as a name in honour of Our Lady of Mount Carmel, perhaps especially for girls born on or near her feast day of July 16. Carmel was in rare use in 1900, then climbed steeply to make the Top 100 in 1930. It peaked in the 1940s at #77, and was off the Top 100 by the 1960s. It hasn’t charted since the 1990s. Although this name originated amongst Catholics, Mount Carmel is a place name mentioned in the Bible, and is important in Judaism, Protestantism, Islam, and the Bahá’í Faith as well, so it is usable by anyone who feels a connection to it.

Elodie

This is the Anglicised form of French Élodie, derived from the Spanish name Alodia; Saint Alodia was a 9^th century Spanish martyr. The meaning of the name is uncertain, but it has been interpreted as Visigothic, from the Germanic meaning “foreign wealth”. In English it’s pronounced like Melody without the M, but the French pronunciation is ay-lo-DEE. There are several fashion boutiques in Australia with the name Elodie in them, giving it a self-consciously stylish air, and it’s a name often seen in birth announcements here, especially from Melbourne. This pretty name makes a good alternative to popular Eloise, and I can see it becoming another Amelie in the future (although a movie called Elodie would be a real help).

Kinga

Saint Kinga was born a Hungarian princess, and her name is the pet form of Kunigunde, which is from the Germanic for “family war”. Kinga had several saintly family connections, because she was the niece of St. Elizabeth of Hungary, and the great-niece of St. Hedwig. One of her sisters became St. Margaret of Hungary, while the other, Blessed Jolenta of Poland, is still being considered for canonisation. Saint Kinga was married off to Bolesław V, who became High Duke of Poland; she insisted that the marriage remain chaste, and although her husband wasn’t happy about the situation, he reluctantly agreed. During her marriage, she devoted herself to charitable works, and after being widowed, became a nun and spent the rest of her life in contemplative prayer. She is the patron saint of Poland and Lithuania, and her name is a popular one in both Hungary and Poland. This name has turned up repeatedly in the search terms ever since comedian Merrick Watts and his wife welcomed their daughter Kinga Rose in December last year. It’s apparently pronounced KEEN-gah, and makes an unusual and attractive heritage choice.

Mika

This little name has several different origins. Mika is a Japanese girl’s name translated as “beautiful fragrance”. It is also a Native American word, meaning “racoon” in the Osage and Omaha-Ponca languages of Oklahoma and Nebraska. However, it’s an Australian Aboriginal word too, because mika means both “moon” and “month” in the Nyungar language of south-west Western Australia. This is a name I’ve seen used a lot in the past, although not so much lately. It often appears in variant spellings, such as Meeka or Meekah – presumably to make the pronunciation clearer, because it is said MEE-kuh, and not like the boy’s name Micah. However, it’s possible that these variants were trying to provide a phonetic spelling of the Dutch name Mieke, which is a pet form of Maria, and said exactly the same way. Mika is similar to popular names such as Mia and Mila; it could also be understood as a short form of Mikayla. Just to confuse things further, Mika is an unrelated boy’s name as well – it’s a pet form of Mikael, the Finnish form of Michael. I suspect the reason I see less babies with this name is the British singer Mika, who now makes it seem male.

Niamh

Niamh is an Irish name meaning “bright, radiant”. In Irish mythology, Niamh was a goddess, the daughter of the god of the sea, and a fairy queen in the Otherworld known as the Land of Eternal Youth. Called Niamh of the Golden Hair, she lured the poet Oisin away to her own world, and together they were the parents of two children, Oscar and Plúr na mBan (meaning “flower of women”). Oisin thought he had been with Niamh for three years, but when he returned to Ireland, he found that three centuries had passed. Niamh gave him her white horse to ride, and warned him not to let his feet touch the ground, or he would never return to her. Later, he accidentally fell off the horse, and the three hundred years caught up with him; he became a very old man, near death. According to legend, his grave site is in Scotland. Depending on accent, the Irish pronunciation is either NEE-av or NEEV, but English-speakers tend to opt for NEEV as easier to say. This fairytale name is Top 100 in England/Wales, Scotland, Northern Ireland and Ireland, and you can see why.

Saskia

This Germanic name is derived from the name of the Saxons, a tribe from the north of Germany. We know them well, because some of them migrated to the British Isles and merged with the Angles to become the Anglo-Saxons of English history; their lands were in the south of England. The name of the tribe may come from the seax, a type of knife that the Saxons were known for using as a weapon. The seax is still an important symbol in the English counties of Essex and Middlesex, both of whom feature three seaxes in their ceremonial emblem. The Saxons who stayed behind in Germany resisted the Christian Franks for some time, but were defeated by Charlemagne and forced to convert; their lands became the Duchy of Saxony. Saxons also gained territories in the Netherlands and northern France. The name became famous through Saskia van Uylenburgh, who was the wife of the Dutch artist Rembrandt vn Rijn, and often served as a model for his paintings. In Australia the name is well known because of the actress Saskia Burmeister, who appeared in the film Hating Alison Ashley, and from the British-Australian children’s TV series Noah and Saskia, where Saskia is the Australian girl. Here the name is pronounced either SAHS-kee-ah, or SASS-kee-ah, and can be seen as a Dutch heritage choice.

Seren

This is a modern Welsh name meaning “star”, and it’s said SEH-ren. It can apparently be used for both sexes, but in Wales it is highly popular as a girl’s name and doesn’t chart for boys. Its similarity to female names such as Sarah, Serena and Serenity probably makes it seem more feminine. I’m including this one because amongst the most common search terms I receive are those asking for baby names which mean “star”, and I think this is a very pretty and simple one. Seren is also a popular unisex Turkish name, which, according to a Turkish dictionary I consulted, refers to the spar of a boat, which juts out from the sail. I’m not sure if the name is taken directly from the word, though. This might be a good name for yachties to consider – especially as boats once used the stars to navigate.

Tuppence

Tuppence means “two pennies” in the pre-decimal currency or old money. We use the word tuppence to signify a very small amount, as in the phrase, I don’t care tuppence, and is also used in the same way as my two cents to indicate you are proffering an opinion (“Well, that’s my tuppence worth”). Tuppence is theoretically unisex, and in Australia “Tuppence” was the nickname of Desmond Moran, from the notorious crime family. However, it’s usually seen as feminine, as in the British actress, Tuppence Middleton, or the nickname of Agatha Christie’s detective, Prue Beresford, in Tommy and Tuppence. Little Tuppence was a New Zealand fashion doll sold throughout Australasia in the late ’60s (a slight rip-off of American Penny Brite), and this gives it a definite girly flavour. To me it seems distinctly vintage, with a touch of English eccentric. It’s Penny to the power of two!

Zaria

Zaria is a goddess of beauty in Slavic mythology, and her name means “dawn” – the time of day when people would pray to her. She is a goddess of warriors, and was invoked to protect against death in battle. The Dutch royal family have a little Countess Zaria, aged six; she is the daughter of Prince Friso and Princess Mabel of Orange-Nassau. Although her first name is Joanna, she is officially known as Zaria, and was named after the goddess. Zaria seems like a great alternative to popular Zara, and very much like Azaria without the baggage. In the US, Zaria has been Top 1000 since the mid 1990s, and is currently #753.

(Picture shows actress Sienna Guillory in the role of Arya from the movie Eragon)

MYTH: Australian Baby Names Follow English Trends More Closely Than American Ones

09 Sunday Sep 2012

Posted by A.O. in Baby Name Mythbusters

≈ 7 Comments

Tags

Arabic names, British Baby Names, Gone With The Wind, Greek names, international name trends, Italian names, Legitimate Baby Names, name data, name poopularity, name trends, popular names, Southern names, UK name trends, US name trends, Welsh names

Last time we went mythbusting, we looked at whether Australian names are becoming increasingly Americanised, and didn’t find a lot of evidence. This is the flip side to that myth – the one that comforts us that we are essentially more British in our ways than American, and so are our baby names. That despite an increasing tendency to call our children Jett and Harlow, most of us will trustingly follow dear old Mother England, and choose something like Archie, Evie, Callum or Isla.

Again, this myth sounded quite plausible to me. But we have to look and make sure, so once more I prepared myself to examine the Top 100 from each nation. The first hurdle is that both of us are slightly data-challenged, so I was forced to rely on data from Victoria only (the only state with stats going back to 1929), while the data from the UK would include both England and Wales, but not Scotland or Northern Ireland. I did feel that already the waters were getting slightly muddied, only to find that England/Wales doesn’t publicise historical Top 100s.

I express my heartfelt gratitude to Elea at British Baby Names, who has provided on her blog, through her own labours, Top 100s for England/Wales for each decade from 1904 to 1984. Upon e-mailing her to enquire where I might find the one for 1994, she very kindly sent me a copy of her own personal spreadsheets so I could have that one as well.

Now I acknowledge this leaves me with some flaws in my methodology before even starting. I only had data from one state of Australia; furthermore this state has a reputation of being slightly more “English” than average. I only had data from England/Wales, and only had access to years ending in a 4. As I had already examined the earlier myth using data from the United States in years ending with a 0, it was possible I wasn’t going to be comparing apples to oranges so much as bananas to hedgehogs to timeshare villas in Spain.

However, we won’t get too gloomy, but show a bit of British pluck and press on. No, this won’t be the most statistically persuasive thing you’ll read all year, but we’re not doing a study, not trying to prove anything, just having a keen yet amateurish look around us to see if anything obvious shows up. And after all, if the myth is clearly and inarguably true, then broad trends should be pretty obvious even through a fog of slightly dodgy data.

1934

Boys – 82% the same (17% higher than US)

Girls – 69% the same (18% higher than US)

1954

Boys – 75% the same (16% higher than US) – down 7% overall, down 1% relative to US

Girls – 68% the same (21% higher than US) – down 1% overall, up 3% relative to US

1974

Boys – 72% the same (16% higher than US) – down 3% overall, no change relative to US

Girls – 62% the same (11% higher than US) – down 6% overall, down 10% relative to US

1994

Boys – 67% the same (11% higher than US) – down 10% overall, down 3% relative to US

Girls – 61% the same (5% higher than US) – down 1% overall, down 6% relative to US

2011

Boys – 63% the same (4% higher than US) – down 4% overall, down 7% relative to US

Girls – 63% the same (16% higher than US) – up 2% overall, up 11% relative to US

Based on these numbers, I would say that’s a MYTH CONFIRMED – at no time in history did the the amount of popular names shared with the US overtake the amount of popular names shared with England/Wales.

However, you can clearly see that while the number of shared girls names went down only very slightly between 1934 and 2011, the number of shared boys names sunk by almost 20%. In fact, yes, we still share more boys names with England/Wales than with the United States, but only by 4% – four names! Statistically, that’s what I call a big-whooping-deal difference, and if this trend continues, future Australian boy’s names are going to look much more like those in the US than the Top 100 for England/Wales.

Girl’s name did not show this steady decline, and in fact last year had a slight increase since the 1990s, while also showing a significant gain relative to the US data. This makes me think that when we say that our names are more English than American, we are primarily thinking of our names for girls.

GENTLE MUSINGS

Last time I ended the article with “conclusions”; this now seems far too definite and perhaps arrogant considering that we are left with far more questions than answers. So I will not reach any conclusions, but merely gently muse on some of the issues that have been raised.

Questions

Many names are shared by the Top 100s of all three countries. Therefore, can you really label names such as Olivia, Jacob, Ella and Liam as “English” or “American”, or are they more properly “international trends”?
If determined to designate a name as “English” or “American”, do you rely upon the place which provided the cultural impetus for the name, or the place where it became popular first, or the place where it reached the highest levels of popularity? If the first, then many popular names could be classed as American; if the second or third, a large number would be classed as Australian more than anything else.
I used the example of Scarlett as an “American-style” name in the preceding article (I admit without much forethought), and Sebastiane from Legitimate Baby Names quite correctly pointed out that Scarlett was more popular in England than in the United States. Now, it cannot be disputed that Scarlett hails from the United States, because the name became known through Margaret Mitchell’s novel, Gone with the Wind, and was popularised by American actress, Scarlett Johansson. However, the name is #19 in Victoria, #25 in England/Wales, and #80 in the USA. It reached the Top 100 of both Victoria and England/Wales in the same year, 2004, New South Wales in 2005, but only became Top 100 in the USA last year. So which country, if any, claims it?
Sometimes my blog entries end up being copied and discussed in some odd places, so my Referrer stats tell me; occasionally they end up somewhere rather disturbing. I found the Mythbuster on Australian and US trends on a not-very-nice forum (not baby name or parenting related), where the poster claimed that supposedly “trashy” American names that were popular in Australia but not the USA (eg Beau) were in fact, not American, but “Southern” names. Did the Civil War not end? I wondered. Is the lower portion of America not part of the United States, but a separate nation? It does raise the issue, what qualifies as an “American” name? Must it be in the Top 100 of every state in the USA to be called American? In which case, I have a feeling that “American” names would end up being those that are popular internationally, like Michael and Emily.

Observations

Immigration made a difference between the Top 100s of England/Wales and Victoria. Mohammed and Abdul have been popular names since the 1930s in the UK, while post-war immigration saw names such as Antonio and Ioannis reach the Top 100 in Victoria during the 1970s.
Although Australia has a history of being very keen on Welsh-inspired names such as Mervyn and Gweneth, I was amused to notice that not only were these not popular in England/Wales, but they had Welsh names, presumably used by actual Welsh people, which we didn’t, such as Ivor and Glynis.
While we all are influenced by each other’s name trends, each country had its names that the others were seemingly oblivious to. The name Gillian seems to be a quintessentially English name, appearing decade after decade on their Top 100, whilst never making the Top 100 in Australia, or the Top 1000 of the US. Meanwhile the US had quite a thing for Melvin – a name which still ranks on their Top 1000. In turn, we had a long-standing fascination with the name Bronwyn.
Each country also had their own favourite names. Adrian was a name we took to early – it was Top 100 by the 1930s and stayed there until quite recently. In England/Wales, it took a bit longer to reach the Top 100 and they tired of it sooner. In the US, Adrian only reached the Top 100 in 1989. England/Wales had an inordinate passion for the name Derek, which continued for decades – a name that has never been Top 100 in Australia, and only reached the Top 100 of the USA in 1970, a good half-century after England/Wales. In the US, Douglas seemed to enjoy favour much longer than elsewhere, being still Top 100 as late as the 1980s.
In other words, we might all be influenced by international trends, but we also have our own tastes in names, and don’t necessarily abandon a favoured name just because everyone else is doing so.
I have noticed that some people, amongst them many Australians I’m sorry to say, assume that a name which becomes popular in England/Wales is somehow more “classy” or “stylish” that one whose popularity originated in the United States or Australia. Granted, whether a name is stylish or not is completely subjective, but I did not feel that this assumption stood up to even casual investigation. From my perusal of popular names from three places across seven decades, it seemed to me that all were capable of being inspired by names that have been considered stylish, and its opposite.
For example, the name Isabella became popular in Australia much earlier than elsewhere, and I think most people would say Isabella is a pretty, stylish name. Yet we were also the first (by many years) to jump aboard the Hayden/Aidan/Jayden/Brayden craze. While I don’t consider this the black hole of name taste that others do, I acknowledge it’s not generally thought of as a stylish trend. While England has some lovely aristocratic names on its Top 100s, such as Constance and Daphne, can a land which adored the name Derek really take the title of Stylemeister? America has brought us no end of cool names, from glamourpuss Marilyn to zippy Jett. There’s a freshness and vigour to American name trends which I love, and a world without their names would be a far less interesting one. However, sometimes they’re a trifle overenthusiastic – and besides, Derek was on their Top 100 for 15 years, so they forfeit the style crown too.
Oh, and Barry and Sheila? Barry was Top 100 in England/Wales for longer than it was here, and Sheila, although popular in both England/Wales and the United States, didn’t show up in the Australian data, because by the 1930s it had already peaked and dropped off our Top 100. Who’d have thunk it?

Names of Australian Male Olympic Medalists

19 Sunday Aug 2012

Posted by A.O. in Name Themes and Lists

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American slang terms, aristocratic names, Arthurian names, Australian slang terms, Babylonian names, Biblical names, epithets and titles, famous namesakes, French names, Gaelic names, Greek names, hebrew names, Indian names, Irish names, Italian names, Korean names, Latin names, locational names, meteorological names, mythological names, name history, name meaning, name popularity, nicknames, Norman names, Norman-French names, Old Irish names, Old Norse names, Pictish names, popular culture, popular names, royal names, saints names, Scottish names, surname names, tribal names, unisex names, Welsh names

Bevan (George)

Bevan George is a hockey player who won gold at the Olympics in 2004, and bronze in 2008. Bevan is a Welsh surname meaning “son of Evan”; as Evan is a Welsh form of John, this is the Welsh form of Johnson. One of the most prominent people with this surname was Aneurin Bevan, a Welsh Labour Party politician most active in the 1950s. Recognised as one of the leaders of the party’s left-wing, he was a champion of social justice and the rights of working people. As Minister of Health, he was responsible for bringing in the National Health Service – that wonderful institution celebrated so effusively in the opening ceremony of the 2012 Olympics. For reasons unclear to me, this name seems to have been used more often in Australasia than anywhere else, and unfortunately, familiarity seems to have bred a certain amount of contempt, for in Queensland especially, Bevan is seen much in the same way that Kevin is perceived in the United Kingdom, the word bevan used to denote a lower-class person. As such, parents would rather use the name Evan.

Deveraux (Mytton)

Deveraux “Dev” Mytton won a bronze medal in sailing at the 1956 Olympics. The surname Deveraux is a variant of Devereux, and it’s Norman-French, meaning “from Évreux” in Normandy. The city of Évreux gained its present name from the Gallic tribe the Eburovici, whose name may be related to the word for “yew tree”, so the French city could have a similar meaning to that of York in northern England. According to the BBC, so many of the gold medal-winners from Team GB were from Yorkshire that if this historic county was its own nation, it would have finished 15^th on the Olympics medal tally – ahead of South Africa and Brazil. The city of Évreux has its own Olympic champion – Didier Courrèges, who won gold as an equestrian in 2004. The surname is one with an aristocratic air to it, and in the early twentieth century would have been considered a very upmarket, perhaps even pretentious, name to bestow upon your son (a 1920s version of a “preppy” name). Pronounced DEV-er-oh, I cannot see this name coming into use, despite the fashionable ending, but Dev has a brisk sound to it.

Eli (Matheson)

Eli Matheson is a hockey player who won bronze at the 2008 Olympics. Eli is a Hebrew name which means “ascension”, and in the Old Testament, Eli is a judge and high priest of Israel who is the teacher and mentor of the prophet Samuel. Eli himself is regarded as a prophet also in Judaism. According to how it is written in Hebrew, Eli can also be a separate name which means “my God”. In Hebrew, it is said EH-lee, but English-speakers tend to pronounce the name EE-lie (probably so it doesn’t get confused with the girl’s name Ellie). One well known person with this name is Hollywood actor Eli Wallach, who starred in the westerns, The Good, the Bad and the Ugly, and The Magnificent Seven. As Old Testament names for boys gain increasing momentum, Eli continues to rise and rise. It first entered the charts in the 1970s, and joined the Top 100 in 2009. It’s already #45 and still forging ahead.

Fergus (Kavanagh)

Fergus Kavanagh is a member of the men’s hockey team, and won bronze medals in 2008 and 2012. Fergus is the Anglicised and Old Irish form of Fearghas, a Gaelic name meaning “man of vigour, strong virile man” – very apt for an Olympian. It was a name common amongst royalty in both ancient Ireland and Scotland, and is still often used amongst Scottish nobility. One of Queen Elizabeth II’s uncles was named Fergus, and another royal connection is Fergus Boyd, a friend and former flatmate of Prince William. There is a Saint Fergus, an 8^th century Irish bishop who was a missionary in Scotland. King Arthur also had Sir Fergus as one of his knights, and he appears in a witty 13^th century romance in which he appears valiant but lacking in sophistication. The name Fergus is currently gaining favour with the sort of parents who love Angus and Hamish, but are dismayed by their popularity. Aristocratic Fergus seems so much more select.

Hector (Hogan)

Hector “Hec” Hogan was a sprinter who was Australian champion seven times over in the 100 metres, and was able to equal the world record in this event. He attended the 1956 Olympics, and although he was already feeling strangely fatigued, still managed to win bronze. He was afterwards diagnosed with leukaemia, and died in hospital a few years later, while listening to the 100 metre sprint race at the Rome Olympics. In Greek mythology, Hector is a Trojan prince, and the greatest warrior of Troy, who slays Achilles in battle. A leader noted for his brave and noble nature, he is seen as far more worthy than his younger brother Paris, who caused the war. In Greek, Hector means “to hold”, and is interpreted as “holding firm, holding everything together”. It may be an epithet or title rather than a real name. In Scotland, Hector is used to Anglicise the Gaelic name Eachann, meaning “horse lord” or “brown horse”. Sir Hector is one of King Arthur’s knights in the legends, and is the brother of Sir Lancelot, while Arthur’s foster-father Sir Ector shows another form of the name. In Australia, Hector is the name of a cloud which forms each afternoon in the Tiwi Islands during certain months. This name is fast becoming seen as hip and quirky.

Ji (Wallace)

Ji Wallace is a gymnast who won a silver medal for trampolining at the 2000 Sydney Olympics. He later came out as gay, and was the first Australian to be an ambassador for the Gay Games; while attending the 2012 Olympics, he revealed that he is HIV-positive. Ji is a unisex Korean name which means “wisdom”; it’s also the word for an ancient Korean flute. This name sounds similar to the Indian name Jai, but manages to use even fewer letters, and is suitable for both boys and girls.

Kenneth (Wallace)

Kenneth “Ken” Wallace started out competing in Ironman, and switched to sprint canoeing while still in his teens. He won gold and bronze medals at the 2008 Olympics, and last year took part in Channel 7’s Australia’s Greatest Athlete. He came third, with Shannon Eckstein beating him to second place. Kenneth is the Anglicised form of two separate names. One is the Pictish Coinneach, meaning “handsome”; the other is Gaelic Cináed, meaning perhaps “born from fire” or “fire-head”, possibly to denote someone red-haired or hot-headed. According to tradition, the 9^th century Kenneth MacAlpin was the first king of Scotland, and is known as Kenneth I (during his lifetime, he would only have been known as king of the Picts, however). There also two legendary saints named Kenneth, one Irish, one Welsh. For some reason, Kenneth became a “funny name” – perhaps because of uber-camp comic actor Kenneth Williams, from the Carry On movies. Kenneth was #38 for the 1900s, and peaked in the 1920s at #6. It left the Top 100 in the 1980s, and is currently #409. It rose last year, so things may be looking up for this attractive name.

Nimrod (Greenwood)

Nimrod Greenwood won bronze for rowing at the 1952 Olympics. In the Old Testament, Nimrod is a great-grandson of Noah, and king of several Mesopotamian cities. He is depicted as a man wielding great political power, a warrior, and a mighty hunter. Although the Bible never states this, according to tradition, he is the king for whom the Tower of Babel was constructed. This hubristic piece of engineering sought to build a tower into heaven itself, and so alarmed God that He scattered humanity over the globe, and made them speak different languages, to prevent further outbreaks of co-operation and harmony. It’s obviously a story to explain cultural differences, and there are similar myths around the world. The name Nimrod is traced to the Hebrew for “rebel”, but as he was Sumerian, this seems unlikely. The most convincing theory is that he is based on the Babylonian god Bel Marduk, one of whose titles was Bel-Nimrod, meaning “to pursue, to make someone flee before him”. Nimrod has entered our language to mean either a tyrant, a warrior, or a huntsman; however, in the United States it is slang for “idiot” – perhaps due to a 19^th century play with a character called Nimrod Wildfire. It is still an Olympian name, for one of the Israeli swimmers at this year’s Olympics was Nimrod Shapira-Bar-Or.

Ralph (Doubell)

Ralph Doubell had a brief career in athletics, but was lucky enough to peak just as an Olympics came around. He won gold in 1968 in the 800 metres, and set a world record of 1:44.3. No other Australian has ever managed to equal this, and it’s stood as the Australian record for more than 40 years. Ralph is a contraction of the Old Norse name Ráðúlfr, meaning “wolf counsel”, which was introduced to England by Scandinavian settlers. When the Normans arrived, they brought with them their own form of the name, Radulf, and English Ralph can be seen as a continuation of both these names. Ráðúlfr is pronounced ra-THOOL-fer, and Radulf is said RAD-oolf; in the beginning Ralph was spelled Ralf and pronounced RAYF. By the 17^th century the spelling had been changed to Rafe to reflect the pronunciation, and the Ralph spelling appeared in the 18^th century. You are now free to pronounce this name either RAYF or RALF, but as far as I know, only one Ralph seems to say his name like Rafe, and that’s English actor Ralph Fiennes. The name was favoured by the ruling classes during the Middle Ages, but American pop culture has not been kind to it, often assigning it to comic or dim-witted characters. In American slang, ralph means “to vomit”, which can’t have done its image any good. Ralph was #91 in the 1900s, and peaked in the 1920s at #89. It left the Top 100 by the 1950s, and hasn’t ranked since the 1980s.

Verdi (Barberis)

Verdi “Vern” Barberis was a seven times Australian champion in weight-lifting, and took the bronze medal in the Lightweight category at the 1952 Olympics. He was the first Australian lightweight to clean and jerk over 300 lb (140 kg), which at that time exceeded his state’s heavyweight record. The name Verdi is an Italian surname, common in the north of Italy, and best known as that of the composer, Giuseppe Verdi. One of the most influential composers of the 19^th century, he is famous for such operas as Rigoletto, Aida and La Traviata. The name means “green”, from the Latin viridis, related to the word virere, meaning “to bloom and flourish”. In the same way, the English word verdant, from the same Latin root, means “green”, but also has connotations of lush vegetation. It’s very much a name of freshness, spring time and new life. I think this rare unisex name is very appealing, and also begins with the fashionable V.

(Photo shows Ken Wallace after winning gold at the 2008 Olympics)

MYTH: Australian Baby Names are Becoming Increasingly Influenced by American Trends

01 Sunday Jul 2012

Posted by A.O. in Baby Name Mythbusters

≈ 20 Comments

Tags

Australian names, Biblical names, classic names, created names, famous namesakes, fictional namesakes, flower names, French names, germanic names, Greek names, Irish names, Italian names, Mer de Noms, name data, name popularity, name trends, nicknames, Old English names, popular names, saints names, Scottish names, Spanish names, surname names, unisex names, US name trends, US popularity, Welsh names

Since I last went mythbusting, the 2011 name data from the United States has been released, and this week it’s American Independence Day. To celebrate both events, I decided to compare Australian and US name data. (Lou at Mer de Noms brought out her own comparison of the data for the United States and England/Wales in May, and did something pretty interesting with it.)

That Australians are becoming increasingly Americanised, including their choice of baby names, is something not debated, but accepted as a truism. It is often mourned by older generations that Australians used to call their children good solid Aussie names like Barry and Sheila, and now give them sleek American-style names like Logan and Scarlett.

It’s a myth which sounds very plausible – I certainly know far more children named Logan and Scarlett than I do Barry and Sheila (actually I don’t know any children called Barry or Sheila). But I thought we should try to get some numbers to back the myth up.

So I decided to look at the Top 100 names from both countries, in the years 1930, 1950, 1970, 1990 and 2011. If the number of names shared by both countries went steadily up, that could help support the theory that Australian names were becoming increasingly “American”. By no means conclusive proof, but it would be a start, and frankly I couldn’t think of any other way of doing it.

As I went through calculating the number of shared names, I also took note of those trends at work in Australia and the United States, where they were the same and where they differed. This gave me a picture of changing trends through the years. (The data is from Victoria, because theirs go back to 1929).

1930

MALE – 65% shared with US Top 100

1930 marked the highest percentage of shared names between the countries. This wasn’t because Australians were more “American” in 1930, but because in every year, the common denominator for both countries were classic names like John, Thomas and William, and these sort of names took up more space of both countries’ Top 100.

Trends noticeable on the Australian Top 100 were names from Ireland, Scotland and Wales, such as Kevin, Malcolm and Trevor, and aristocratic English surnames, such as Neville. Americans preferred prominent surnames of their own citizens, such as Elmer and Lee. Popular names from America we didn’t share were “cowboy” names – Wayne, Earl and Jesse. In America, nicknames for boys were all the rage, including Billy, Bob and Jimmie.

FEMALE – 51% shared with US Top 100

Popular girls names in both countries were homespun names such as Margaret and Dorothy, as well as plant names like Hazel and Rose.

Australian trends for girls included names from Ireland and Wales, such as Sheila and Gweneth, saints names such as Carmel and Veronica, and literary inventions like Doreen and Mavis. American trends were for Germanic names such as Emma and Clara, and the clunky Old English Mildred and Bertha. America’s Hispanic population meant that Delores and Juanita were Top 100 there.

1950

MALE – 59% shared with US Top 100 (down 6%)

American trends for boys we had picked up by 1950 include Gary, after Hollywood star Gary Cooper, and that supposed Australian favourite, Bruce, also popular in the US.

America continued its love of nicknames, with Bobby, Joe and Fred all Top 100. Several of the Irish boys names such as Kevin and Barry were now on the US Top 100 as well, but new Irish-style names such as Shane were still to gain American acceptance. Already in the US you can see a reluctance to use “feminine sounding” or unisex names such as Lindsay and Noel, which were Top 100 in Australia. In Australia, that same 1950s gender-anxiety produced the opposite result, with some unisex names like Leslie becoming male-only.

FEMALE – 47% shared with US Top 100 (down 4%)

The most noticeable shared trends for girls were those glamorous Hollywood names such as Marilyn (Monroe) and Rita (Hayworth). Even when Australians did take a name from America, such as Jennifer from Hollywood star Jennifer Jones, it didn’t always follow that Americans would embrace it as rapidly themselves. Jennifer was a 1950s name in Australia, but didn’t peak in the US until the 1970s.

Australian girls were being given French names like Annette and Jeanette, while Americans girls had Jacqueline. Another popular Australian “French” name was Lorraine, given in honour of St Joan of Arc, sometimes called The Maid of Lorraine. The American love of the nickname meant that names such as Judy and Peggy were Top 100 for girls.

1970

MALE – 56% shared with US Top 100 (down 3%)

Popular 1970 names which we think of as “American style” were in evidence on both charts, such as Bradley, Jason, Glenn, Darren and Craig.

Australian boys names not picked up in the US included Scottish-style names such as Ross, Graham, Stuart and Gavin, and the “feminine sounding” Ashley and Jamie. Differing ethnicities also made their mark, with Spanish Carlos in the US Top 100, and Italian and Greek names like Giovanni and Giorgio in the Australian Top 100. American nicknames powered on, with Larry, Terry and Jerry amongst them.

FEMALE – 51% shared with US Top 100 (up 4%, return to 1930 level)

It was the decade of those 1970s names Sharon and Tracey, although Sharon in particular had been popular in America for some time and we’d only just caught up.

Names such as Samantha and Amanda were already popular in Australia in 1970, but would have to wait until the 1980s to make it big in the US. Conversely, Amy was popular in the US, but wouldn’t be here until the 1980s. French Nicole was in vogue in both countries, and we’d caught up with Jacqueline; however Australia also had Danielle, Louise, Justine, Natalie, Simone and Josephine – typical 1970s girls names that were underused in the US. Scottish and Welsh names like Fiona, Megan and Bronwyn were popular here but didn’t get a look-in in the US. We were proudly using names of Australian origin, like Kylie and Narelle; naturally these were unknown in the US.

1990

MALE – 56% shared with US Top 100 (no change)

Trends from the US we were embracing were Old Testament names, such as Jacob and Zachary; and the new surname names, such as Ryan and Mitchell.

A new generation of “too feminine” boys names that were popular in Australia were ignored in the US, such as Shannon, Tristan and Leigh, as were more Scottish, Welsh and Irish-ish names, such as Lachlan, Rhys and Kane. Hayden and Jayden were already Top 100 in Australia, but not in the US. America had finally gone off nickname names, while Australia now had Jack, Jake and Ricky. American names Beau, Jackson and Tyson were popular then, as now, in Australia; of the three, only Jackson has hit the US Top 100 so far.

FEMALE – 56% the same as the US Top 100 (up 5%)

Names that both countries had in common were those typical 1990s names, like Tiffany, Brittany, Kayla and Caitlin.

Americana we were still to discover included unisex names for girls like Ariel, Shelby and Paige. Although the US had Danielle and Natalie by now, French names such as Monique, Elise, Renee and Madeleine which were popular here had apparently failed to make an impression. Although Welsh Caitlin was all the rage, the US were not on board with Tegan and Rhiannon, as we were. Most notably, Emma, Amelia, Charlotte, Sophie, Chloe and Zoe were missing from the US Top 100 – while American parents who chose these names in 1990 were ahead of the trends, in Australia, parents choosing these names in 1990 were just following the trends.

2011

MALE – 59% shared with US Top 100 (up 3%, return to 1950 level)

Congruence in popularity between the two nations has risen to 1950 levels, with many name trends in common, mostly a fresh crop of Biblical names, such as Elijah, and surname names, such as Mason.

American parents are now avoiding a new generation of Scottish names, such as Angus and Hamish, while Irish names like Declan and Flynn are also neglected in the US. Oddly enough, Kevin is still Top 100 in the US, while it’s considered a bit dated here. The scunner against nicknames continues as Americans shun Australian populars Charlie, Harry, Archie, Sam and Nate. No longer merely shying away from “feminine sounding” names for boys like Bailey and Riley, parents in the US have actually given these names to their daughters in such numbers that they are now Top 100 for girls, while Top 100 for boys here. Several names we have taken from the US, such as Jett, Hudson and Jasper, are still not popular in America.

FEMALE – 47% shared with US Top 100 (down 9%, return to 1950 level)

Girls names have also returned to 1950s levels. Many names are shared because America has caught up with our popular names from 1990, but Australian parents have also begun to use unisex names for girls like Madison and Addison.

America has abandoned many names as “outdated” such as Amy, Jessica, Holly and Amber that have taken on “modern classic” status here. While America has accepted Lily, it is less keen on our popular plant names Daisy, Ivy, Violet, Willow, Olive and Rose. British-style names such as Isla and Imogen cut no mustard in the States. Meanwhile, popular American virtue names like Genesis, Serenity, Trinity, Nevaeh and Destiny do not resonate here. Perhaps they will in the future.

CONCLUSIONS

I did not manage to bust this myth, but neither did I find much evidence to support it, so I will give its status as MYTH UNCONFIRMED.

As I compared popularity charts from the two countries, I realised more and more that it was a case of apples and oranges. Names took longer to gain popularity in the US, and it was harder for them to stay in the Top 100; name popularity was a competitive environment there. Australia has a much smaller population size, which means that name trends show up faster here. We’re also more likely to hold onto our favourite names once we’ve found them, sometimes for generations.

I don’t think it’s an exaggeration to say that American parents are absolutely obsessed with getting ahead of the current trends, and can watch the slowly rising popularity of their chosen names with almost comical anxiety. This makes some sense, because trending names can take so long to reach the Top 100 that they have a good chance of having ten to twenty years before that happens. In Australia, this behaviour makes no sense at all, because as soon as a name begins to show up in the data, it’s basically already quite popular. As we keep names around for longer, there’s no real rush to “catch” a name on the way up either; we can always wait until it’s a cosy, familiar “classic”.

In any given year, Australia and the US will share around half the names on their respective Tops 100s, and this has not changed across time. We share many name trends, and since at least 1950, Australia has been drawn to names from America. Sometimes it took us a long time to get onto a particular trend from America, and other times we took to it with greater enthusiasm than Americans did themselves.

Both countries also have their own styles of naming. Australia has always been fond of Irish-inspired names, and although Barry and Sheila have fallen by the wayside, we now have Finn and Molly. Scottish names continue to be a growth area, with Angus, Hamish, Callum and Isla seeming rather stylish to us. Through the years, there were many names unique to the Australian popularity charts. Names that I thought of as typical of their period, such as Dulcie in 1930, Glenys in 1950, and Jacinta in 1970 seemed to be unknown in the US.

Americans are slow to adopt Irish names, but often touchingly faithful to them, and are wary of Scottish and Welsh names. They have a deep suspicion of unisex names for boys or anything that even sounds remotely feminine, while comfortable with briskly masculine names for girls. Flower names are not popular there; perhaps they seem too girlish even for girls.

Due to going overboard on nicknames in the past, America has developed almost a horror of them, much in the same way I can no longer stomach gingerbread after overindulging on it a few Christmases ago. As nicknames are currently internationally popular, this has seen them unfairly branded as a bit stuffy on the issue, when they’re really just over the whole thing.

We don’t have to try to follow American trends, and in fact a couple of them would be downright foolish for us to imitate. But the United States has proved a rich source of name inspiration for many decades, and I know it will continue to be so for many decades to come.

Less Commonly Used Boys Names

10 Sunday Jun 2012

Posted by A.O. in Name Themes and Lists

≈ 9 Comments

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Anglo-Norman names, Apache names, Australian vocabulary words, celebrity baby names, english names, fabric names, famous namesakes, fictional namesakes, germanic names, Hindi names, Indian names, Italian names, Latin names, locational names, mythological names, name data, name history, name meaning, name popularity, Native American names, nicknames, popular culture, Roman names, saints names, slang terms, surname names, unisex names, US name popularity, vocabulary names, Welsh names, Yorkshire dialect names

This follows on from Less Commonly Used Girls Names. The names are from the bottom of the popularity charts in New South Wales, Victoria, Queensland and Tasmania, and in each case, the name was used less than ten times in 2011.

There seems to be a lot of musical references in this entry, so I’ve linked relevant names to YouTube videos of the person performing.

Atticus

This Roman name means “man from Attica” – Attica being the area of Greece surrounding the city of Athens. This name wasn’t uncommon in the ancient world; there is a Platonist philosopher called Atticus, and there is also a Saint Atticus, a soldier who died a martyr by being burned at the stake. However, today it is most associated with Atticus Finch, the principled lawyer and loving single father in Harper Lee’s novel, To Kill a Mockingbird. Atticus Finch, who defends a black man on a rape charge in a small Southern town during the 1930s, is considered a folk hero in legal circles. In the 1962 film adaptation, Atticus is played by Gregory Peck, who was a civil rights activist; Peck won an Academy Award for his performance, and in 2003 the American Film Institute voted his character the greatest hero in American film. It is that decent, understated heroism of Atticus Finch that makes him such a beloved character in literature and film. The character has inspired the names of both a clothing line run by musicians and an alternative rock band. It’s a hip choice which has been burning up the US popularity charts since 2004.

Bryn

Bryn is a modern Welsh name which means “hill”; as well as being a man’s name, it is also a common place name in Wales and England. A famous person with this name is Welsh opera star Bryn Terfel, a bass-baritone best known for his roles in the works of Mozart and Wagner. Apparently he applied to study music in Cardiff, but was so annoyed when they assumed he was a woman that he ended up studying in London instead. Bryn Terfel, whose first language is Welsh, is a patron of Welsh language and culture, and hopefully by now everyone in Wales recognises his name as male. Even though Bryn isn’t a common name in Australia, I don’t think it would seem too out of place either, as there are several boy’s name beginning with Br-, such as Brent and Brody. It looks rather like a cooler version of Irish Brian, which may have a similar meaning.

Corbin

Corbin is an English surname which started as a nickname based on the Anglo-Norman word for “raven”. It may have been given to someone who had raven-black hair, although less flattering possibilities also come to mind. Corbinus, the Latinised form, is found as a first name in the Domesday Book, so it has a long history of use. Despite being an old English name, this tends to be thought of as a modern American one, because it’s been solidly Top 500 in the US since the late 1980s. This may be because of television actor Corbin Bernsen, who began playing lawyer Arnold Becker on LA Law in 1986 and remained on the show until it finished in 1994. Another famous namesake is Corbin Harney, an elder and shaman of the West Shoshone people. He devoted his life to spreading a message about the dangers of nuclear energy, and the environmental issues facing the world. You may also know the name from Corbin Bleu, who was in High School Musical. This name is apparently so unusual in Australia that the article the information came from described it as a “bizarre” choice, although it seems a perfectly nice, normal name to me.

Denim

The fabric denim was originally called serge de Nîmes, after the French city where the tough cotton material was originally made by the Andre family. This was eventually shortened to denim. Denim is inextricably linked with jeans, which began life as sturdy clothing for workers, and then became fashion icons which symbolised teen rebellion. Today they are worn by pretty well everybody. Denim is an interesting name choice; it’s not really a “bad boy baby name” like Axe or Vandal, because while denim is worn by rebel icons like rock stars and bikers, it’s also worn by suburban mums and little kids. Also fabrics are usually thought of as girls names, like Velvet and Paisley, but denim is tough and hard-wearing. It’s definitely an ambiguous sort of name – one that, like the fabric, may grow with the person better than you’d expect. It’s also a soundalike with the surname and place name Denham.

Jagger

This English surname originated in Yorkshire, and means “hawker, carrier”, the word jagger being Yorkshire dialect for someone who carries a pack or load. It is claimed that most people with this surname are descended from a single family who came from Staniland, near Halifax. There was a high concentration of people named Jagger in Yorkshire, compared to the rest of England. The most famous person with this surname is undoubtedly Sir Michael “Mick” Jagger from The Rolling Stones, whose mother was born in Australia. I don’t know if this is correct, but Mick Jagger is said to be distantly related to Joseph Jagger, the 19^th century British engineer famous for being “the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo”. Joseph Jagger was indeed from Halifax in Yorkshire. The name Jagger is almost always given in relation to The Rolling Stones frontman, and may have been given a boost in 2011 from the Maroon 5 song, Moves Like Jagger, which is a tribute to Sir Mick. The number of baby boys named Jagger went from 5 to 8 in Queensland last year.

Naiche

Naiche was the last hereditary chief of the Chiricahua band of Apache Native Americans. He was an ally, protege and relative by marriage of Geronimo, the famous Apache leader and war chief. Naiche and Geronimo successfully went to war together in the 1880s, but Naiche ended up being imprisoned. Although he had resisted the process of being moved onto an “Indian Reservation”, eventually he was forced to give in, and ended his days on an Apache reservation in New Mexico. He lived only six years after moving there, and his descendants are still on the reservation. The name Naiche means “meddlesome one, mischief-maker” and it can apparently be pronounced NAY-chee, but I’m not sure if that’s the correct Apache pronunciation, or even whether it depends on which Apache accent you’re using. Naiche is for sure a very unusual name in Australia, but it has a fascinating namesake, and actually sounds slightly like Nate and Nathan. Pronunciation and spelling seem like they would be an issue.

Occy

Occy is the nickname of Australian surfer Marco “Mark” Occhilupo. Occy is short for his Italian surname, which means “eyes of the wolf”. At the same time, it is a play on the Australian word occy straps, short for octopus straps – those stretchy cords which are used by surfers to tie their surfboards onto their car’s roof rack. Mark Occhilupo was a precocious teenage surf god of the 1980s who lost his way for several years as his life spiralled out of control. In the mid-1990s, he made a comeback, and stunned everyone when he won a world title in 1999 at the age of 33. He considered retiring in 2005, but realised he still had a lot left in him. Now aged 45, he only competes part-time, but this year he made it into the final four of the Telstra Drug Aware Pro semi-finals, defeating top-ranked surfers to do so. Mark, also dubbed The Raging Bull, is an inspirational sporting icon who teaches us that mature experience can be more important than youthful talent, and that things are never over until you give up. Although Occy is a nickname and a slang term, it means so much more.

Pax

Pax is the Latin word for “peace”, and the Romans recognised a goddess of this name who symbolised peace, and was associated with the spring. The word pax also means “treaty, accord”, and the Pax Romana is the name given to the two-century period (approximately 27 BC to 180 AD) of stability and minimal military expansion in the Roman Empire. For the Romans, peace wasn’t about everyone holding hands and singing Imagine together in a field of daisies – it described that period during war when all your opponents had been thoroughly beaten and were no longer able to resist. It denoted ultimate military victory, rather than co-operation and unity. Today we see peace rather differently, and the name is probably given with the modern concept in mind rather than the ancient Roman one. In 2007, Angelina Jolie adopted a son from Vietnam and named him Pax Thien. Pax may be the name of a goddess, but this one has very much gone to the boys, as it fits so well with popular male names such as Max and Jax.

Veer

Veer is an Indian name meaning “bravest of the brave” in Hindi. Veer (“valour”) is one of the nine rasas of ancient Hindu philosophy. These emotional states are repositories of energy drawn from our life force, and by learning to master these energies, we gain emotional balance. The rasa of Veer stops us from running away from our problems, and instead face them head on; it also gives us the courage to not allow adversity to defeat us, but to get up after a fall, and continue on. It also allows us to have the healthy confidence and self-esteem needed to achieve in life. Veer Teja Ji is an Indian folk hero and saint, and the highly successful 2004 Bollywood film Veer-Zaara is about the star-crossed romance between Indian Air Force Squadron Leader, Veer Pratap Singh, and a wealthy Pakistani woman, Zaara Haayat Khan. Veer has a very positive meaning, and looks the same as the English word veer, meaning “to swerve”. It’s also a homonym of the English name Vere, so both sound and spelling are familiar to English-speakers, and it seems a very usable heritage choice.

Ziggy

Ziggy is a nickname for Germanic names such as Sigmund, but in practice is used for a variety of names starting with Z. It is famous as the name of pop star David Bowie’s alter ego, Ziggy Stardust. Bowie based the name on a London tailor’s shop called Ziggy’s that he saw from a train one day. The surname Stardust was taken from American country and western singer Norman Carol Odom, a weird novelty act billed as The Legendary Stardust Cowboy. Norman appealed to Bowie because he had a crazy band of misfits who barely understood music, and was unconsciously hilarious. The character of Ziggy was based on pioneering English rocker Vince Taylor, who modelled himself on Elvis Presley. Like so many after him, drugs proved his downfall, and he ended up believing he was the son of God, and existing solely on eggs. Bowie got to know him, and was impressed by his magnificent repertoire of dottiness. So Ziggy Stardust was a mixture of fashion, madness, outsider art, and rock and roll excess. Ziggy is also the nickname of Bob Marley’s son David, although in his case it was a drug reference. Cute name, with a solid musical background.

(Photo shows David Bowie’s final performance as Ziggy Stardust at the Hammersmith Odeon in London, 1973)

Interesting Names Spotted in Print, on Radio and on TV – Autumn Edition

05 Tuesday Jun 2012

Posted by A.O. in Names Spotted at Home and Abroad

≈ 7 Comments

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animal names, astronomical names, Australian Aboriginal names, Chinese names, Cornish names, created names, english names, famous namesakes, Fijian names, Greek names, honouring, Indian names, Latin names, literary namesakes, locational names, mythological names, name history, name meaning, nature names, popular culture, Scottish names, sibsets, unisex names, vocabulary names, Welsh names

This celebrates the fourth birthday of a little boy who was the first baby born at Saltwater in New South Wales in over a century. The beachside area is the traditional place of the Worimi-Biripi people, and is now in a national park. Dawn Morcombe gained special permission to give birth at this spiritually significant location, and she named her son Yarramundi John Michael Hollis. Yarramundi was a famous Indigenous leader of the colonial era; his son was Colebee, who was featured on the blog last year. His name is said to mean “deep water”. Fantastic story, namesake, and meaning, especially for a baby born at Saltwater!

Debbie Bell from South Australia has had a rough life and been through more than her fair share of heartache. However, after a great deal of physical and emotional suffering, she and her husband Ian were at last able to have a baby through a donated embryo, and named their son Derlerean. I think Debbie and Ian may have created this name themselves. It reminds me of the car, the Delorean.

Victorian couple Charlotte Gernandt and Dale Hynes called their first baby Tinkabell Darling [pictured]. Now this sounds like a name straight out of Peter Pan, but Charlotte and Dale say she is not named after the fairy. Um, okay … must be inspired by some other Tinkerbell … She’s called Tinka for short.

Emma Preston was so crippled by endometriosis that she was confined to a wheelchair, and had little hope of ever having a baby. But then Sydney fertility specialist Dr Geoff Reid not only got her out of her wheelchair, he helped her to conceive through embryo transfer. Emma was so grateful, she named her baby after him. No, the baby’s not called Geoff; her name is Reid Louise. Nice gesture and name story.

It’s not often a baby ends up in the paper just because of his name, but this one is quite striking. Kate Anderson and Lance Walshe, from the Yarra Ranges just outside Melbourne, named their son Viper. His name was inspired by Lance’s love of snakes, and the couple wanted an original name that nobody else had. They considered Wolfgang, but rejected it because they thought it might lead to teasing. Viper Walshe doesn’t have a middle name, and if he’d been a girl, his name would have been Ruby Joanne. Kate says his name has met with mixed reactions.

A story from Port Macquarie on the ever-rising prices on electricity bills featured a struggling single mum named Bek Latimore. Bek’s baby girl is named Arizona; although I generally don’t go for American-states-as-names, this one always puts a smile on my face. I’m not sure I can ever imagine using it myself though. Arizona’s older brother is named Nick, which made me think – could Nick be short for Phoenix? Hmm?

This story about a midwifery programme at Canterbury Hospital in Sydney showed a mother with an elegant name: Eglantine Jalicot. Eglantine’s son has an equally stylish name – Lysander. His ancient Greek name means “release of a man”, and belonged to a famous military general of ancient Sparta. Eglantine is another name for the sweetbriar, and is first found as a personal name in Chaucer’s Canterbury Tales.

Two interesting and pretty girls’ names from a story on sleep and babies: Luna and Reya. Luna is of course Latin for “the moon”, and Reya is an Indian name which means (I think) “wealth”.

A story on a new breech birth clinic at Westmead Hospital in Sydney showed mum Mallissa Tulfua with her son Tevita. His name is the Fijian form of David.

A Brisbane columnist covers a naming dilemma from real life when two of her friends cannot agree what to name their baby. Readers are invited to help name their sprog, but as we’re not told what names they’ve come up with already, it seemed a rather futile exercise (although apparently the mother had rejected Luke as “not masculine”, which seemed odd). The columnist notes some of the baby names from her own extended family are Echo, Theo, Roarke, Ziad, Ingrid and Rudi.

Alana Mahadik had a very difficult childbirth with her first son, Avighna. With her second, she opted for hypnobirthing at Caboolture Hospital in Queensland on Anzac Day, and found the whole experience very quick and stress-free. Her new baby son’s name is Rudra, which is an Indian name meaning, aptly enough, “remover of pain”. Avighna’s name means “remover of obstacles”.

A rather adorable little baby girl was sadly abandoned at Canterbury Hospital early this year. The baby has been named Li-Ye, which means “beautiful child” in Chinese. Only a few babies have been abandoned this way in New South Wales in recent years: two others were named Adam and Sunday April. All of these babies were eventually adopted after their birth mothers failed to come forward.

Interesting Names of Adults

An ABC radio podcast on parenting featured a Melbourne child psychologist named Angharad Candlin. This Welsh name meaning “greatly loved” is one I have admired since childhood, yet never before seen on a real person (although I didn’t actually see her, as it was radio).

This travel writer, enjoying the Sicilian sun, has the name Dugald Jellie. There’s quite a few Australians with this Scottish form of Douglas as their name, but Dugald Jellie seemed just a bit more interesting and storybook-character somehow.

The junk mail of one April morning produced a community newsletter about a new medical centre opening in the area. One of the doctors was named Demelza – a Cornish place name from the Poldark books and TV series. I briefly thought about changing doctors just to have a GP named Demelza, but couldn’t face all the paperwork.

I read One Way or Another: The Story of a Girl Who Loved Rock Gods, the memoirs of Gold Coast rock star groupie Nikki McWatters. Eventually she sees the error of her ways, and settles down by sensibly marrying a schoolteacher. Her husband’s name? The very rockstar-sounding Zeus. As well as teaching school, Zeus is a trained opera singer, so she obviously never lost her thing for male vocalists.

Channel 7 have resurrected The Price is Right, which I find keeps the troops quietly occupied while I make dinner. As I stir and chop, I keep an ear out for names: so far I have seen a pair of sisters named Jalila and Janita (late teens to early twenties), a woman named Feda, pronounced like “feeder” (twenties), and a grandmother named Dixie (around sixtyish).

Names From Bonds Baby Search: British-ish Names

17 Saturday Mar 2012

Posted by A.O. in Baby Contests

≈ 11 Comments

Tags

Breton names, Cornish names, Irish names, mythological names, Scottish names, Welsh names

These are names from the British languages of Ireland, Wales, Cornwall, Scotland and Brittany. I’ve called the list “British-ish” because many of the names have been Anglicised or are otherwise “inspired” by these languages rather than being strictly authentic. If you’re thinking there are many names missing, they could well turn up on other lists … Pronunciations and origins to the best of my knowledge.

GIRLS

Aneira (Welsh)

Aoife (EEF-ya – Irish)

Ashleen (variant modern Irish)

Bree (Anglicised Irish)

Bridget (Anglicised Irish)

Cailin (ka-LEEN – faux-Irish)

Carys (modern Welsh)

Ciara (KEE-ruh – Irish)

Eilish (EE-leesh – Anglicised Irish)

Fianna (fee-ANN-uh – Irish)

Isibeal (ISH-ih-bale – Irish)

Maela (MAH-el-uh – Breton)

Niamh (NEEV – Irish)

Nimueh (NIM-oo-ay – variant mythological Welsh)

Rhiannon (mythological Welsh)

Saoirse (SEER-sha – modern Irish)

Seren (modern Welsh)

Shayla (faux-Irish)

Sian (SHAHN – Welsh)

Sinead (SHIN-ayd – Irish)

Siobhan (SHIV-on – Irish)

Tegan (modern Welsh)

BOYS

Braith (Welsh?)

Brendan (Latinised Irish)

Bryn (Welsh)

Cadel (Welsh)

Caelan (KAY-len – Anglicised Irish)

Cian (KEEN – Irish)

Cillian (KIL-ee-an – Irish)

Denzel (variant Cornish?)

Duncan (Scottish)

Eamon (AY-mon – Irish)

Eoghan (O-in – Scottish/Irish)

Ewan (Anglicised Scottish/Irish)

Fergus (Anglicised Scottish/Irish)

Finlay (Anglicised Scottish/Irish)

Fionn (FIN – Irish)

Griffin (Latinised Welsh)

Ian (Scottish)

Jock (Scottish)

Kormak (variant Scottish/Irish)

Lorcan (Irish)

Malachy (MAL-uh-kee – Irish)

Morgan (Anglicised Welsh)

Neil (Irish/Scottish)

Oistin (OHS-teen – Irish)

Ronan (Irish)

Ruairidh (RAWR-ee – Irish)

Seirian (modern Welsh)

Shea (SHAY – Anglicised Irish)

Talisyn (variant mythological Welsh)

Taryn (variant modern Welsh?)

Tighe (TYGE – Irish)

Names of Australian Models

06 Sunday Nov 2011

Posted by A.O. in Name Themes and Lists

≈ 27 Comments

Tags

Cornish names, created names, famous namesakes, fictional namesakes, French names, hebrew names, Indian names, Italian names, Latin names, Maori names, mythological names, name history, name meaning, Native American names, nicknames, Shakespearean names, Tamil names, Welsh names

Because we had two sets of male names for Boys N ames from the Australian Football League and Boys Names from the National Rugby League, we need to have two sets of female names to keep the numbers even. As the spring fashion collections are out now, and ladies are getting frocked up for the spring racing season, it seemed a good time of year to feature women’s names from the world of Australian fashion.

Bambi (Northwood-Blyth)

Bambi Northwood-Blyth is a young up and coming model from Melbourne. She became known once her photo started being seen in tabloids partying with her surfer boyfriend who owns a fashion label, and soon became an internationally known “it” girl. At 5 foot 7, Bambi is unusually short for a fashion model, has a very distinctive look with heavy dark eyebrows, and sports tattoos and facial piercings. Bambi is a diminutive of the Italian word bambina, meaning “girl child”; English equivalents of Bambi might be Babe or Lassie. A girl named Bambi (real name Francesca) is the heroine of 1914 novel, Bambi, by Marjorie Benton Cooke. It recounts the romantic adventures of a lively young society girl in New York, and seems an entertaining enough read. However, it’s been overtaken in the public consciousness by a male deer called Bambi, hero of a novel by Felix Salten which was made into an animated Disney movie. Since then, Bambi has taken on connotations of being doe-eyed, long-limbed and generally adorable, like a baby deer. Bambi is usually a nickname or stage name in real life, and this case is no exception: Bambi Northwood-Blyth’s real name is Stephanie.

Cheyenne (Tozzi)

Cheyenne Tozzi was raised in Sydney, and is the type of blonde bikini babe which makes her suitable to be the face of Mambo Goddess and Just Jeans. She’s been hailed as “the next Elle McPherson”, and seems to be dating someone new every time you open a gossip magazine, from Kanye West to Mickey Rourke to Brandon Davis to our own Taj Burrow. Cheyenne is the name of a Native American people from the Great Plains region. Their name is what the Dakota Sioux called them, and means something like “the people of an alien language” (literally, “red-talkers”). One of their most famous members was the chief Black Kettle, who tried to make peace with the American settlers, and was killed by General George Custer. It’s pronounced shy-AN, and seems to be have been first used as a name in 1950s TV western, Cheyenne, about a cowboy called Cheyenne Bodie. It’s now seen as a primarily feminine name, and you should be aware that many Native Americans find using tribal names as personal names culturally insensitive or even offensive.

Demelza (Reveley)

Demelza Reveley is from Wollongong, and won the fourth series of Australia’s Next Top Model. Despite winning the show, judges said she lacked the sophistication to be a top model, and was just young and pretty. She has posed for Cosmopolitan and Vogue, and is currently the face of Sydney’s fashionable Strand Arcade shopping centre. Demelza is the name of a Cornish village said to mean “fort of Maeldaf”. The name Demelza was used for a character in the Winston Graham’s Poldark novels, and it became well known after the novels were turned into a TV series in the 1970s; the part of Demelza Poldark was played by Angharad Rees. Part of the success of the name at the time may be because, in the story, Demelza is told that her name means “thy sweetness”. Demelza Reveley’s parents obviously like unusual names – her sister’s name is Tanith.

Elle (Macpherson)

Elle Macpherson (pictured) was born in Sydney, and first modelled in New York as a teenager to raise money for her law degree (soon abandoned). She became known for her girl next door looks and magnificent figure, which earned her the sobriquet of “The Body”. Elle became part of the generation of supermodels in the 1980s, and went on to control many business interests. Today she is a multimillionaire businesswoman with her own fashion label, and is the face of Revlon cosmetics. She lives in Britain with her two sons. Elle’s name is short for her real name of Eleanor. Elle is the name of the world’s largest fashion magazine, founded in Paris in 1945. At one time, Elle Macpherson appeared in every issue of the magazine for six years in a row, and at the age of 21, married its creative director, Gilles Bensimon. The magazine’s name is the French word for “she”.

Miranda (Kerr)

Miranda Kerr was raised in the country town of Gunnedah in New South Wales before her family moved to Brisbane. She won the 1997 Dolly magazine contest at the age of 13, became a swimwear model, and relocated to New York. She is the first Australian to become a Victoria’s Secret lingerie model. She is married to actor Orlando Bloom, and is the mother of Flynn Christopher Blanchard Copeland Bloom. The name Miranda was created by William Shakespeare for his play, The Tempest; Miranda is the teenage daughter of the duke Prospero, and the two of them have been exiled on a remote island since Miranda was a toddler. Miranda’s name is derived from Latin for “admirable, miraculous” – Prospero is a magician, and perhaps chose a rather magical sounding name for his daughter. Miranda seems to be a popular name in Australia, at least in fiction; there seems to be a lot of Mirandas in films and television shows, including the beautiful schoolgirl Miranda in Picnic at Hanging Rock, based on the novel by Joan Lindsay. As this movie is very mysterious, it adds up to Miranda being a remarkably magical and mystical name.

Myfanwy (Shepherd)

Myfanwy Shepherd is from Cairns; she auditioned for the fourth series of Australia’s Next Top Model, but was rejected, as judges didn’t believe she had what it takes. A few months later, she was on the runways of New York, London, Paris and Milan. Myfanwy is a medieval Welsh name revived in the 19^th century. It is often translated as “my fine one” or “my rare one”, but this seems to be an imaginative gloss, as it is more likely from the Welsh for “beloved”. A 14th-century legend tells of Myfanwy Fychan, who was said to be the most beautiful woman in Powys, and vain enough to love nothing more than hearing her appearance praised. She took a fancy to a penniless bard because he could compose poems extolling her loveliness. Fickle as well as vain, she soon dumped him for someone richer and better looking, and the bard was left to wander around sadly composing poetry to his lost love. This rather unpleasant character’s story was turned into a popular song by Joseph Parry in the 19^th century. The name is pronounced muh-VAHN-wee, however Australian Myfanwys have a range of pronunciations, including like Tiffany with an M at the front. Like Myfanwy Shepherd, they all seem to use Myf (said MIFF) as the nickname.

Pania (Rose)

Pania Rose is from Perth in Western Australia; she was discovered during a national teen covergirl contest. She’s posed for Marie Claire and Spanish Vogue, and is most famous for her 2006 Sports Illustrated Swimsuit Edition appearance. The name Pania is one from Maori mythology; Pania of the Reef was a beautiful sea maiden. She fell in love with a handsome son of a chieftain, and the pair became secretly married. These mortal-to-sea creature love affairs always seem to go horribly wrong in tales, and this one is no exception. Pania stayed with her husband every night, but during the day she needed to be in the sea in order to survive. Her frustrated husband got tired of not having a wife around during the day, and tried to force her to remain on land against her will. Horrified that he would risk her life, she fled from him into the ocean. There is a statue of Pania on the city of Napier’s Marine Parade that is sometimes compared to that of The Little Mermaid in Copenhagen. The name is said PAH-NEE-AH, and it may mean “polished”.

Tabrett (Bethell)

Tabrett Bethell was born in Sydney, and was a teenage model and cheerleader for the NRL Cronulla Sharks. After this she trained as an actress, has been in several films, and played a key role in the US fantasy TV show, Legend of the Seeker, where she gained a fan following. Tabrett’s unusual name came about because of an argument her parents had about what to name her. Her mother had chosen the name Siobhan, but her father preferred the name Murray. Her dad left the hospital and went for a drive, where he saw a sign for Tabrett Street. He drove back to the hospital, and suggested Tabrett instead, which her mother proved equally enthusiastic about. Tabrett is pronounced with the emphasis on the first syllable, and for many years, Tabrett was told her name was Welsh. I have read that it is derived from the Hebrew word tofe, for the hand drum that is used to praise Yahweh, and is interpreted as meaning “celebration”. Although Tabrett’s surname is Welsh, meaning “son of Ithel”, by coincidence it looks similar to the Hebrew for “house of God”, so there is some odd Welsh-yet-Hebrew/Hebrew-yet-Welsh theme to her name, I think.

Tahnee (Atkinson)

Tahnee Atkinson is from Perth, and is the winner of the fifth series of Australia’s Next Top Model. Tahnee has a curvaceous figure, and her weight was sometimes an issue during the course of the show. As part of her prize, she received a contract with Maybelline and a spread in Harper’s Bazaar, which retained exclusive rights to her for six months. Tahnee is a name that has long been a favourite in Australia; the oldest Tahnee I know is in her late fifties, and the youngest was born last year. The meaning of the name is uncertain, but Australians often fondly believe it to be Aboriginal or Maori in origin. Most likely, it just a variant of Tania; it is pronounced TAH-nee (like tardy with an N in it instead of a D).

Valli (Kemp)

Valli Kemp was born in Kenya to British parents, moved to London when she was seven and to Sydney when she was twelve. She was chosen Miss World Australia in 1970, and seen as the epitome of early ’70s glamour, with bedroom eyes and full lips. After moving to London for the Miss World finals (Grenada won), she became part of the “beautiful people” scene, and appeared in a few films, most notably cult horror flick Dr Phibes Rises Again, opposite Vincent Price. After moving back to Australia in the 1980s, she became a full-time artist and art teacher. The name Valli means “creeping plant” in Tamil, which refers to either a sweet potato or a yam; both of these grow on vines. Valli is a Hindu goddess in the mythology of South India and Sri Lanka. In the stories, a chieftain and his wife prayed for a child, and found a baby girl amongst the vines in the forest; they raised her as their own and she grew up to be princess of her tribe. She became the wife of Lord Murugan, the most loved deity in Sri Lanka – a brave warrior who protects even the most humble.

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Waltzing More Than Matilda

~ Names with an Australian Bias of Democratic Temper

Tag Archives: Welsh names

Names of Australian Male Paralympic Medalists

The People’s Choice of Boy’s Names

The People’s Choice of Girl’s Names

MYTH: Australian Baby Names Follow English Trends More Closely Than American Ones

Names of Australian Male Olympic Medalists

MYTH: Australian Baby Names are Becoming Increasingly Influenced by American Trends

Less Commonly Used Boys Names

Interesting Names Spotted in Print, on Radio and on TV – Autumn Edition

Names From Bonds Baby Search: British-ish Names

Names of Australian Models