Naming of Names

From time to time, I feel that I might have slipped into another dimension. This happened most recently when I spotted the annual ‘beautiful baby’ competition in my local newspaper. Three pages of baby mugshots – my, don’t they all look the same at that age, but I digress. It was the names that caught my eye.

Every year, the government’s Office of National Statistics releases the top ten names of boys and girls in England and Wales. I’ll publish them at the end of this blog post. So, back to baby names. There seems to be a trend for apparently (and I’ll be kind) ‘impressionable’ young parents to name their children after so-called stars of third rate television soap operas or ‘Z’ list celebrities. Two words come immediately to mind – good and grief!

In many cases, it seems as if the parents have lost the ability to spell. For example, Izabella, Ellauise, Gillyanne, Hana and Hunnie. Imagine the problems they are creating for their children in adult life. In conversation with the customer, the company’s rep writes down Honey or you have to say “My name is Honey. That’s spelt Hunnie.” It begs the question: “Why?” There is a very fine dividing line between originality and stupidity. From what I saw in my local newspaper, the line is crossed with increasing regularity. 

If the trend continues, I guess we could see a trend where people are named after their home town or everyday objects. What about Nately Scures Smith, Scunthorpe Brown, Book Millar, Frying Pan Robinson, Artichoke Allen or Potato Head?

I really would be interested to hear your views on names. Don’t be shy, let them out!

A Selection of Names from the Paper

Jayden, Payton, Charlie-Ray, Deon, Taia, Skyla, Paris, Tao, Kalib, Chase, Yanah, Isla-Jaye, Alekos, Elzbieta, Colby-Jay, Brianna, Lexie Ryley, Caelan, Poppy-Faye,Lataya, Izabella-Kate, Isobell, Mya, Ellauise, Ajay, Gillyanne, Shrina, Jai, Kameron, Tallon, Macy, Neo, Demi-Leigh, Erin-Grace, Hunnie, Malakai, Hana

Top Ten Girls’  and Boys' Names in  England and Wales 2008
OLIVIA, RUBY, EMILY, GRACE, JESSICA, CHLOE, SOPHIE, LILY, AMELIA, EVIE
JACK, OLIVER, THOMAS, HARRY, JOSHUA, ALFIE, CHARLIE, DANIEL, JAMES, WILLIAM

What's in a Name?

I came across this cross in our local churchyard. I was interested in the Christian name, Arthurina. When I did some research, it was listed as the female version of Arthur. This got me thinking. Was she referred to as Arthur for short? I thought this was pretty unique, but as I started writing this, I thought of Fredericka which must be the female version of Frederick. I guess there must be others, but I can't think of any. Does anyone know of other examples of cross-naming?