from reflectiveinklings.com

It’s Tuesday, and I’m still sifting through Eurovision related names. When Ich und die Namen covered the subject a few weeks ago, one of the names I called out as being fascinating was Eleftheria, so it seems apt to devote a post to some of the Greek names which have a connection to Eurovision first.

Admittedly, I didn’t actually tune in to Eurovision until Greece’s entry because I was at the cinema for the second time last week to watch the third Men in Black film (oh what a cinema junkie I have become). I must say, my sister was impressed with the song’s rhyming couplet aphrodisiac/maniac, more so than Sweden’s ingenious offering of possible/impossible last year.

To those who didn’t watch the scoring, Greece was in the lead following the first few tallied votes, but faded in the might of Sweden et al towards the end, ending up 17th in the end.

Here’s a list of the name of Greek entrants since 2001 (Greece didn’t compete in 2000):

MALES

Giorgos – 2010

The Greek form of George, which means farmer.

Loukas – 2011

The Greek form of Luke, which means man from Lucania.

Michalis – 2002

The Greek form of Michael, which means who is like God?

Sakis – 2004 (Anastasios)

Means resurrection in Greek.

Sarbel – 2007 (Charbel)

There is a St. Charbel, who came from northern Lebanon.

FEMALES

Anna -2006

Form of the Hebrew name Channah, which means favour, grace.

Eleftheria – 2012

Comes from Eleutherios, which means free.

Elena/Helena – 2001&2005 (Eleni)

Eleni is the Greek version of Helen, which means torch.

Kalomira – 2008

Possibly related to the Greek kallos, meaning beauty

Mando – 2003 (Adamantia)

Adamantia is simply a feminine form of Adam, which means man.

Another fascinating source of names is that of the Greek commentators which has changed a few times in recent years:

MALES

Fotis (2007)

Modern Greek version of Photios, which means light.

Giorgos (2006)

The Greek version of George.

FEMALES

Alexandra (2005)

Feminine form of Alexander, which means defending man.

Betty (2008-2009, sister of Mathildi)

One of the many nicknames of Elizabeth.

Dafni (1999-2004)

Turkish form of Daphne, which means laurel.

Maria (2011-2012)

One of the many variants of Mary.

Mathildi (2008-2009, sister of Betty)

Presumeably the Greek form of Matilda, which means strength in battle.

Rika (2010)

This spelling is a Japanese female name meaning either good justice/truth or pear flower.

Alternatively, there is the Hungarian name Réka, which may be related to the Turkish name Arikan, which means pureblood.

Zeta (2006)

The name Zita means little girl in Medieval Italian.

Any favourites?

from hello magazine

Sometimes, the Daily Mail has its uses. I would never have considered covering this family in this feature had I not caught sight of an article about them only today. The process of selecting families in which to feature isn’t a particularly scientific one: British families are preferable, although it’s fun to occasionally cover families from other parts of the world, and I do try to enforce a bit of bias into families with more notable or even wacky names. Usually, I simply stumble across the family whilst googling a multitude of things in order to achieve a lifetime’s dream of knowing more pub quiz answers than my Grandfather – a pursuit which has become increasingly more difficult now that he writes them.

Jason Durr is an actor, best known for his role in Heartbeat. The last time I saw him on the little screen was when I watched Midsomer Murders ’round at my Grandma’s home, when he played a character named Luke Archbold. Even typing the name wants me to say it à la Archibald, a name I’m slowing starting to nurse a liking for.

He has three children, the youngest two being twins:

Blossom

Velvet

Felix

My sister went to primary school with a girl named Blossom, whilst she was also my least favourite member of The Powerpuff Girls. However, the name itself isn’t stylistically different to Daisy or Poppy, and both of those names are in the Top 100. Jamie Oliver has, naturally, used all three names – one for each daughter (Blossom is one of Petal’s middle names). And as for Velvet…woah! At first I wondered as to whether her name was actually Violet and it has been mistranscribed or something, but it appears to be the case that she is infact called Velvet.

Aside from Eurovision, I went to see Men in Black 3 on Saturday night. The thing to note? There’s a character in the new film called Griffin, often referred to in the film as Griff. I really liked the character, and my sister, naturally, hated him.

Going back to Eurovision ever so briefly (I’m currently mapping out other Eurovision-related posts as we speak so expect even more on this subject), I just couldn’t NOT mention this guy, of whom those who either couldn’t bear to watch the frankly corrupt voting, or had simply gone to bed may have missed in the festivities:

He was the spokesperson for Finland’s results, and he won Eurovision himself in 2006. Known mostly by his stage name Mr. Lordi, his actual name is Tomi Petteri. All of a sudden, the name Tommy no longer seems infantile…

Iron Sky poster, from blogger.com

So, I went to the cinemas on Wednesday to watch one of the craziest films I’ve seen in a long time. It’s premise? Nazis who, after being defeated in 1945, fled to the Moon and now they’re back to conquer Earth. It’s a shame that it was only open for the one day here in the UK, although I’ve been told by my father that it’s run has been extended due to demand.

It’s a joint Finnish-German-Australian film, so the names associated with the film are a mixed bag, but it’s a good kind of mix:

Aila – a Hebrew name meaning oak tree.

Götz – the German nickname for Gottfried, which is the German form of Godfrey, a name that means peace of God.

Klaus – the German short form of Nicholas, which means victory of the people.

Peta – the female form of the name Peter, which means rock.

Renate – the German feminine form of Renatus, which means born again.

Samuli – the Finnish form of Samuel, which means God has heard.

Tero – short form of Antero, the Finnish version of Andrew.

Udo – variation of Odo, which itself comes from Otto, which means wealth.

Vivian – derives from the Latin vivus, which means life.

Coeur de Pirate, from blogger.com

You know when you get this idea in your head and you feel the need to run with it? I’m getting that a lot lately and it’s produced yet another slightly random post. Although, that said, it’s Eurovision tomorrow, so one could see this as a delightful prelude into French music before we get to see the French performance tomorrow night. Last year France sent a guy named Amaury, who performed in Corsican. This year France are fielding a girl named Anggun, yes that really is her name; she’s originally from Indonesia, but is now a naturalised French citizen.

Other interesting (at least to me) names from the French music scene are:

1. Lola (song w/ English&French lyrics)

Not the name of an artist, moreover the name of a single by French pop-punk band Superbus, fronted by Jennifer Ayache. The song was released in June 2007 and reached #7 in the French charts. It was this song and the single released before it, Butterfly, which essentially established Superbus in the French conscious. The album they both came from, Wow, was Superbus’ third studio album and won Best Pop Album at Victoires de la Musique in 2007. My second favourite Superbus song? Nelly. In both cases the songs are about girls named Lola and Nelly, respectively.

The name Lola was originally a nickname for Dolores, which means sorrows, but has come to be popular in her own right, like so many other names in the England&Wales Top 100 for 2010 (Lola ranks at #33).

2. Béatrice

The real name of artist Coeur de Pirate, who is currently expecting a baby at the end of summer 2012. Fun fact: the French nickname for Béatrice is Béa, said bay-ah, not bee. She released her self-titled album in 2009, which went on to be nominated for a Juno award.

The name Béatrice in whatever form derives from the Latin beatus, meaning blessed or happy.

3. Nolwenn

A lass by the name Nolwenn Leroy was the winner of season two of France’s Star Academy. The winners of the other seasons were: Jenifer (S1); Élodie (S3); Grégory (S4); Magalie (S5); Cyril (S6); Quentin (S7); and Mikels (S8).

This is a Breton name, which means holy one from Noyal. The singer has helped to spur the popularity of this name, and she pronounces her name nol-wen.

4. Florent

In 1998, Florent Pagny won the Victoires de la Musique award for Male Artist of the Year. He’s had several no.1s in France since his début in 1988, the most recent being in 2003 with Ma liberté de penser, which held the top spot for 6 weeks.

The name Florent is the French masculine form of the Latin name Florentius, which means belonging to Florens; the name Florens itself means blossoming.

5. Édith

It would see wrong not to mention the great Édith Piaf in this list at least once; the lady behind the great Non, Je ne regrette rien. French names are consider to be über chic, which may just give Édith the edge. To me, I’ve always seen Edith as a classic English name, so the accent took some getting used to, even for me. I guess it works fine for the French, but I question its need if one does not interact either with or in French.

The name itself comes from the Old English name Eadgyth, which means blessed war.

6. Mylène

Ms Farmer is one of the most successful artists in France, perhaps due to the fact that she holds the record for the most no.1 singles in the French charts; I have a friend who calls her France’s answer to Madonna. Many of you may now be familiar with Myleene Klaas, the British celeb who had a baby named Hero Harper last March.

As for the name, it is a shortening of the compound name Marie-Hélène.

7. Maé

Christophe Maé has been around for a few years now, and it’s his surname which caught my eye. Kind of apt really, given that it is still (just) the month of May. Christophe is another pop singer, although he’s more of a acoustic guitar pop-singer than a synthesiser one.

The name of the month comes from Maia, who was the Roman Goddess of fertility.

8. Mika

Now, this is an interesting fact: in the list of the Top 10 best-selling singles in France in 2011, only one was sung in French, and it was released by London-based Mika. You may have heard of him, he’s released several English-speaking singles over the years too, infact, Elle Me Dit was his first single in French and it clearly went down well with the general French public.

We’ve covered Mika a few times, most recently here, but the general gist of the name from the masculine point of view is that it is a variation/diminuative of Michael, which means who is like God?

9. Yannick

Yannick Noah was first a successful tennis player, and now he spends his free time carving out a music career. Yannick mostly sings pop songs; the last time I was in France his single Angela was getting quite a bit of airplay. For the Americans reading, Yannick’s son, Joakim Noah, plays for the NBA Chicago Bulls.

Yannick is a relative popularity in France, deriving from the Breton name Yann, which is their version of John.

10. Kyo

I’ve covered the band Kyo at least once before, notably here, so there’s nothing really new to report, except that Kyo are expected to reform in October this year. Well, that’s the latest rumour. They’re a pop-rock band who were especially popular in the early so-called noughties.

Some more about the names covered:

Dolores – 2010 E&W ranking: #3156

A Spanish name taken from the title of the Virgin Mary, it means sorrows. Has been widely used in the English speaking world since the 19th century.

Ralph – 2010 E&W ranking: #258

Of Old Norse origins meaning wolf counsel.

I did check up on this, ‘ralf’ is the American pronunciations, whilst ‘rayf’ is the traditional way to say it in England, although nowadays the name is usually said ‘ralf’.

Imogen – 2010 E&W ranking: #26

A name created by William Shakespeare for his play, Cymbeline, although the name was originally meant to be Innogen. Likely to derive from the Old Irish ingen, which means daughter, girl, maiden.

Bernard – 2010 E&W ranking: #1082

Of Old English origins, meaning hardy bear.

Anthony – 2010 E&W ranking: #148

From the Latin name Antonius, which is likely to be connected to the Latin word ante, which means before. The spelling with the h was likely to be influenced by the Greek word anthos, which means a flower.

Molly – 2010 E&W ranking: #42

An old nickname of Mary, which has evolved to become a name in its own right.

Marley – 2010 E&W ranking: #593

Originally an English surname, meaning pleasent wood, although I have seen it linked to the meaning of weasel.

Harry – 2010 E&W ranking: #3

An old nickname of Henry, which has evolved to become a name in its own right.

Irene

Of Greek origins, meaning peace.

I also looked this one up; this name was originally said with three syllables, but has since adopted a two syllable pronunciation used by most.

Alice – 2010 E&W ranking: #43

From the Old German name Adelheidis, meaning noble.

Lucy – 2010 E&W ranking: #21

Derives from the Latin, lux, meaning light.

Douxy – 2010 E&W ranking: n/a

Most likely from the French word doux, which means sweet. 

Gabriel – 2010 E&W ranking: #78

From Hebrew, meaning strong man of God.

Benjamin – 2010 E&W ranking: #22

From Hebrew, meaning son of the south.

Oh, and the film review I mentioned about half way through can be found here.

So, Mer de Noms is officially two today, woop! I feel like a failure for forgetting to buy party poppers and the like, but let’s overlook those shortcomings (although Ribena Sparkling? Rad! It’s like sparkling wine for kids!). Fun story: there was a camera crew on the bus when I got on today, sadly not to cover my blog birthday – boo!

I did wonder what on earth I could possibly do to celebrate, and I’ve fallen back on a favourite pasttime of mine: looking through the sad corner of name data where only a few are chosen.

So, since I started this long voyage on the 23/5/10, here are some totally awesome names (which for once I’m editing out to include only those I like) given 23, 5 and 10 times in 2010 to babies born in England&Wales:

BOYS

23.

Avi

Floyd

Gwion

Shiloh

5.

Adair

Alisdair

Ashby. Pretty sure this is also a place name.

Bartholomew

Beaumont

Binyamin. I think the German pronunciation of Benjamin is my favourite, although this is the Hebrew version of the name.

Constantine

Louka

Lowen

Mathieu

Octavian

Stefanos

Stellan

Sunnie

Teifion

Torrin

Zephyr

10.

Clive

Dino

Eliezer

Fox

Gavriel

Gordon

Greg

Horatio

Kitt

Lionel

Lochlann

Radley

Ren

Sasha

Valentin

GIRLS

23.

Candice

Cassia

Isadora

Paloma

Peggy. Playdays throwback.

Theodora 

Winnie

5.

Aliona. However, Aliona Vilani continues to scare me to this day.

Beatris. The Scottish version of the name; the Welsh version is Betrys.

Brigitte

Caitriona

Callista

Dottie

Eluned

Emer. Yet I’m no fan of Emma. Discuss.

Fabienne

Femke

Flossie. My Dad’s nickname for me.

Graínne

Hero

Kit. Two times in one list? ‘Course.

Ksenia

Lavender

Lou. Self-serving putting this name on here? Perhaps.

Maebh

Magda

Marietta

Oonagh

Rosabel

Trudie/Trudy

Vesper

Zelda. I’ve actually never played the game.

10.

Aurelie

Bernice

Caprice. Yes, I like the name Caprice.

Dawn

Estella

Eveline

Laurel

Mirren

Nova

Rowena

Selma

But, I had to continue from here, for there were plenty of strange and wonderful other names given 23, 5 and 10 times in 2010 that I just really wanted to share:

BOYS

23.

Awais

Nayan

5.

Achilles

Aksel

Alphonso

Alias

Asaph. Not to be confused with Asafa, as in, Asafa Powell. My bad.

Bayden

Bow. Immediately reminded me of lovely Kirsten over at Marginamia.

Buckley

Cosmin

Dov

Elan

Ferris

Fiyinfoluwa. 

Fyfe

Gruff

Kristen. Hello again Kirsten!

Mamadou

Messi. Footballing legend, according to Papi.

Nils

Nuno

Shloime. Yes, I too misread this as Shalom and got all excited. Boo.

10.

Aeron

Alieu

Alpha

Archy. I actually kind like this variant spelling

Art

Berkay

Harsh

Howie

Jovi

Kaito

Maks

Memphis

Othniel

Prem

Thai

Tobiasz

Tudor

Usayd

Vinay

Zinedine

GIRLS

23.

Angharad

Madina

Marika

Munira

Nur

Tiya

Yu

5.

Amily

Bracken

Brie. My eyes were spinning last time I had some of this. Bad days.

Charm

Chi

Eseosa

Joey

Loza

Merveille

Morayo

Myrtle

Nesta

Noora

Opemipo

Oviya

Pepper

Razia

Rimas

Ruba

Simisola. Very sing-song-y.

Sona

Thandeka

Vy

Wing. Flying without wings. Yes, I was recently dragged to a Westlife concert.

Zhane

Zienna

10.

Aziza

Dayna

Dior

Eliz

Esra

Guste

Lyba

Temiloluwa

Temitope

from wikipedia.org

Some weeks I have my eye on a particularly tiny sibset and have to decide whether or not to pair it up with another to make the post of a reasonable size. This week? I’m covering perhaps the most amount of names I’ve ever covered in this feature because we’re looking at the children of the late Hussein of Jordan; he was King of Jordan from 1952 to 1999, and has 11 children from 4 marriages. Then I also felt the need to mention the children of his children, and thus this list of names tallies at 32. 32! My favourite thing to take from this list is the feminine use of the name Zein - a name we only covered a few weeks ago in this very same feature for a young lad.

Princess Alia, 1956

- Prince Hussein, 1981

- Talal, 1989

- Abdul Hamid, 1992

Abdullah II, 1962

- Crown Prince Hussein, 1994

- Princess Iman, 1996

- Princess Salma, 2000

- Prince Hashem, 2005

Prince Faisal, 1963

- Princess Ayah, 1990

- Prince Omar, 1993

- Princess Sara, 1997

- Princess Aisha, 1997

Princess Aisha, 1968

- Aoun, 1992

- Muna, 1996

Princess Zein, 1968

Princess Haya, 1974

- Sheikha Al Jalila, 2007

- Sheikh Zayed, 2012

Prince Ali, 1975

- Princess Jalilah, 2005

- Prince Abdullah, 2007

Prince Hamzah, 1980

- Princess Haya, 2007

Prince Hashim, 1981

- Princess Haalah, 2007

- Princess Rayet, 2008

- Princess Fatima, 2011

Princess Iman, 1983

Princess Raiyah, 1986

Chelsea is a popular girls name here in the UK, at #220 in England&Wales in 2010 (she ranked at #38 in 1994), and there’s also a fabulous dude-name-blogger named Chelsea over at The Name Agender.

One of the key players in securing Chelsea’s win was Didier Drogba, but it’s not his name I want to mention; it’s that I recently came across a Didier/Dieudonne brother pairing at the bus stop.

Then we have this week’s picture, which concerns the fact that I recently discovered that one of my friend’s has named her car:

Dorris? That was unexpected. I remember that I once had a RE teacher who owned a Volvo named Florence back in the 80s, way before she hit the Top 100, but I can’t seem to recall many other named cars.

from string-or-nothing.com

The name Romilly is emerging as a stylish 21-st century pick, but her origins are less than clear. What’s for sure is that there are several villages in France which go be the name Romilly, and that got me thinking about other place names in France which have potential akin to Romilly. For the sake of my sanity, I stuck to the areas around Paris for inspiration, but may one day expand this to other areas.

1. Neuilly (Neuilly-sur-Seine, neu-ee)

Perhaps too ‘French’ to really be accepted by England speaking parents, it is the name of an area in the western suburbs of Paris, and is considered to be a rather bourgeois area of Paris, i.e. Kensington. Historical records sometimes showed this area to be named Nully, which makes this name remind me of Nelly. The current spelling was influenced by the French Academy standardisation of pronunciation.

2. Évry

Like Evie? Well, consider this her French place name sister. Évry can be found in the southern suburbs of Paris, and is twinned with the London borough of Bexley. In the 1960s it was earmarked by the French government to be part of it’s ‘new town’ initiative to prevent city crowding by the expansion of villes around major cities such as Paris and Lille. Confused? Think of Milton Keynes.

3. Sucy (Sucy-en-Brie)

Perhaps I could use this name to make a case for Susie, since the pronunciation is rather similar to if one were to say Susie with a French accent, like Lucy-with-an-s. Sucy-en-Brie can be found in the southeastern suburbs of Paris, and is twinned with Camberly in Surrey.

4. Chelles

I’v actually really taken a shine to the name Shelly recently, and this name reminds me of her. Like many things in French, the final s is not pronounced. Chelles can be located in the eastern suburbs of Paris, as an area in Marne-la-Vallée, which is famed for being the location of Disneyland Paris.

5. Bailly

Kind of like the French version of Bailey, which can be found in the Yvelines department in the outermost area of Paris.

6. Bonnelles

Bonnie and Nell are both considered stylish choices, and this seems to be the best of both worlds. Like Bailly, this too can be found in the Yvelines department.

7. Fleury (Fontenay-le-Fleury)

Lies also in Yvelines, and Fleury is a slight change to the already-in-use name Fleur, which means flower in French.

8. Mézy (Mézy-sur-Seine)

Like a jazzy version of Maisie, this is another area in Yvelines.

9. Thoiry

I’m not such what name to compare this to, maybe Thora which has received a lot of chatter about her of late. This town also lies in the Yvelines department.

10. Vélizy (Vélizy-Villacoublay)

Another jazzed-up-with-a-z kind of name, it can be found in the south-western suburbs of Paris. Vélizy also happens to be twinned with a town named Harlow in England.