Scene from La Haine, from blogger.com

I’ve been watching a few french films of late, and there was one which really caught my attention. Yesterday I watched a film called La Haine, which is about life in the banlieu – basically the French equivalents of housing estates. In came out in the late 90s, several years before there were quite violent riots in France in 2005 – sparked by the accidental deaths of two teenagers whilst being chased by the police.

A few names from the film which stood out for me were:

Astérix (nickname)

Cassel (surname of one of the actors)

Choukri (actor)

Hubert – The t is silent when the French say this name, and for me that really makes me reconsider the name.

Mathieu (director)

Magimel (surname of one of the actors)

Médard

Rywka  (actress)

Saïd

Vincent ‘Vinz’

Other names vaguely related to the film are:

Cécile – Half sister of Vincent Cassel. He played one of the main characters.

Chanteloupe – The majority of the filming took place in an area called Chanteloupe-les-Vignes.

Deva and Léonie – The name of Vincent Cassel’s daughters. He played one of the main characters.

Makome – His death helped inspire the film.

Elsewhere, the frontman for Spandau Ballet, Gary Kemp, recently welcomed his fourth son: Rex Albert. He joins brothers Finlay Munro, Milo Wolf and Kit Frank.

Sceneshot from Downton Abbey, from guim.co.uk

Yesterday we talked about the family of the Earl of Grantham from the surprise hit show Downton Abbey. We’re continuing in a similar thread by today looking at the staff of the household. For those wondering, there will be a part III, which I’ll put off until next week to allow you time to recover; that post in question will be looking at the recurring cast of the show.

However, first, we introduced Pt.I with a mention of the creator of the show, Julian Fellowes. It seems fair, therefore to start this post by talking about Shelagh Stevenson who is one of the main writers for the show. Shelagh is likely to be a variant spelling of the name Sheila. The name Sheila herself derives from the Irish name Síle, which is the Irish form of the name Celia; follow that further and you get to Cecilia, which derives from Latin and means blind.

But now, let’s begin with the gentlemen, and the first one to mention is Charles Carson, who is played by Jim Carter. What’s interesting about both men is that their surnames have seen use as first names.

Charles is usually taken as being the English and French form of the German name Karl, which means man. On the other hand, the name Carson is likely of Irish origins, but his exact meaning remains unclear. In 2010, Charles ranked at #62 for boys in England&Wales, whilst Carson ranked at #503.

The name Jim is usually a short form of James – a name which means supplanter. The surname Carter alludes to one who uses a cart. Whilst James ranked at #10 in 2010, Jim ranked at #1620 with just 14 born; he was outranked by both Jimmy (#307) and Jimi (#942).

The actor Jim Carter is married to the rather delightful Imelda Staunton who played Dolores Umbridge in the Harry Potter films. Imelda’s middle names are Mary, Philomena and Bernadette.

Starting at the start of her name and working through in order, we first have Imelda which is both the Spanish and Italian form of the German name Irmhilde, which is derived from the Germanic elements:

• ermen, meaning whole
• hilta, meaning battle

What’s more, together the couple have a daughter named Bessie, which is one of the many offshoots of Elizabeth, another name we discussed yesterday.

Moving on we have the character John Bates, who is played by actor Brendan Coyle. The name John means Yahweh is gracious, whilst Brendan could derive from the Welsh brenin, which means king.

We then have the character of Thomas Barrow, who is played by actor Robert James-Collier. The name Thomas is another popular choice – he currently ranks at #6 –  but no doubt many will be unaware that he means twin. Once more, we mentioned Robert yesterday - but in a nutshell the name Robert means bright fame.

The last male staff member we should mention in this post is William Mason. He is played by Thomas Howes. The name William derives from two Germanic elements:

• vilja, meaning will
• helm, meaning helmet

Moving on to the female members of the staff, we start with Elsie Hughes, played by actress Phyllis Margaret Logan. The name Elsie is the second name we’ve come across in this post alone which derives as a short form of Elizabeth. The name Phyllis we very recently mentioned in a post on old people names, and if you missed it, the name means leaf/leaves/foliage. I’m pretty sure we mentioned Margaret as well in Pt.II, although I will tell you that she means pearl.

Moving slightly away from the Yorkshire home of Downton Abbey, the actress Phyllis Logan was born in Paisley which I’ve recently seen considered for/given to girls. As well as being a place name, it is also the name for a pattern which derived from the town of the same name; Paisley is closely associated with Scotland. The origins of the name Paisley likely lie in the Irish word baslec, which means church. And as for Logan, it heralds from Ireland and means hollow.

Our second female member of staff is Sarah O’Brien, who is played by Siobhan Finneran. The name Sarah is well known to mean princess in Hebrew, whilst Siobhan is the Irish Gaelic form of the name Jane/Joan, both of which derive from the name John we we’ve already mentioned above.

The actress Siobhan is married to one Mark Jordan and together they have two children: Joseph and Poppy - two more names we’ve mentioned recently, but in two different posts. Joseph came up yesterday, whilst Poppy came up last week. The meaning of Poppy is clear, and she ranks at #16. The name Joseph means he will add, and the name ranks at a pretty similar #15.

Next we have Anna Smith who is played by Joanne Froggatt. The name Anna is usually taken as being derived from Ann, whilst Ann herself is usually taken to come from Hannah – which would therefore mean that the name means grace. Joanne is a variant of Joan, mentioned above.

Still with me? Gwen Dawson is one of the household’s housemaids along with Ethel Parks. Gwen is a delightful Welsh name and female form of Gwyn – but she is often seen as a nickname for Gwendolen or even Guinevere. The name Gwyn means white, pure, blessed. Then we have Ethel, which appeared in the same post as the aforementioned Phyllis. The name Ethel derives from Old English and means noble.

As for the actresses, Gwen is played by Rose Eleanor Leslie and Ethel is played by Amy Nuttall. When it comes to the former, both her first and middle names are in the England&Wales Top 100: Rose at #90 and Eleanor at #61. The name Leslie started off life as a Scottish surname, and thus probably derives from Scottish gaelic and means garden holly. Once upon a time, the name Leslie was all-boy. It’s worth noting however that in 2010, there were only 8 girls called Lesley born – and not enough girls named Leslie for that particular spelling to rank. However, on the other side of the fence, 10 male Leslies were born in England&Wales.

One of our last characters to mention is Beryl Patmore, who is played by Lesley Nicol. The name Beryl coincides with the name of a precious gem and just 6 girls were given the name in 2010.

And last, but by no means least, we have Daisy Robinson, played by actress Sophie McShera. Both names are quite popular these days in England&Wales: Daisy ranks at #15 and Sophie ranks at #2. The name Sophie comes from Greek and means wisdom.

Snapshot of the charming Dame Maggie Smith in character, from madblackcat.com

I would be a sham of a Brit if I didn’t admit to visiting a few castles/abbeys in my time. I’ve dedicated a whole post to Chatsworth House, and have been thinking about other castles to mention in the near future. But today, it seems time to cover a famed British estate, which may not exactly be real – but it has certainly captured our attentions, and the attentions of those abroad.

Downton Abbey is a period drama, which airs on ITV here in the UK and it set up north in Yorkshire. At the time of the series, George V was the King – and future grandfather of our current monarch – Elizabeth II.

The series was created by Julian Fellowes, so it seems apt to begin our look into names there. In 2010, the name Julian ranked at #311 in England&Wales, whilst Jules is experiencing something of a boom over in France. The name Julian is the English form of the Latin name Julianus, which means belonging to Julius. The name Julius derives from Jupiter, although it is often claimed that he derives from Greek and means downy-bearded.

As an aside, in 2009, Elizabeth Adeney gave birth at the age of 66 to a son she named Jolyon – a medieval variant of Julian – making her then the eldest mother in the UK.

Julian Fellowes is married to Emma Joy, and together they have one son named Peregrine. Emma was born in 1963, and her name means whole, universal, whilst Peregrine means stranger, traveller.

Moving away from real-life, and into the fictional world of Downton Abbey, let’s start with the Crawley family as the focus for Part I. At the top of the pile is The Right Honourable Robert Crawley, Earl of Grantham. The name Robert is a classic staple, currently ranking at #90 in England&Wales. He means bright-fame, whilst charming Rupert is a German form of him and ranks at #360.

This character is played by Hugh Bonneville. The name Hugo has been enjoying increased attention of late, not least in thanks to the BAFTA-nomintated 2010 film of the same name. Hugo is the Latin form of the name Hugh, which himself is the English form of the Germanic name Hugi, a name that means heart. It was brought to Britain with the Normans.

Of all three names, Hugi does not rank in England&Wales, but both Hugh and Hugo do. Despite the star-power of comedian-come-actor Hugh Laurie, the name Hugo outranks Hugh at #149 to #364. It’s worth noting at this point that Hugh Laurie isn’t actually a Hugh – his real name is James Hugh Calum Laurie.

Going further with the actor’s family, Hugh Bonneville is married to a lady named Lulu Evans, and together they have a son called Felix. The name Lulu is a common short form for plenty of names, such as Louise; Lucy; Louisa; Lucia, and indeed plenty more; Lulu ranked at #840 in 2010, England&Wales. Felix, on the other hand, derives from Latin and means lucky, successful. Felix is another slightly-outside Top 100 lurker at #122.

The wife of the Earl of Grantham is The Right Honourable Cora Crawley. The name Cora is likely to have been derived from the Greek Kore, which means maiden, however there may have been influence from similar names such as Coralie. Cora ranks at #438, whilst Coralie ranks at #2589, with only 8 of them born in 2010.

This character is played by Elizabeth McGovern, whose name means God is my oath. She has two children, called Matilda and Gracie. The name Matilda means strength of battle, whilst Gracie is a diminutive of the name Grace. The name Matilda ranks at #53, whilst Gracie is slightly higher at #51. Elizabeth, meanwhile, is at #49 – so all three names are separated by just 2 other names – Leah at #50 and Amber at #52.

The children of the Earl and Countess of Grantham are called Mary Josephine, Edith and Sybil. As an aside, my sister recently declared dibs on the name Edith, along with a handful of other names. But that’s for another time, another post.

Mary has enjoyed ferocious popularity for centuries, mostly thanks to her prominent role in the Bible. Despite this, it’s never been certain what exactly the name Mary means, but what we do know is that she currently ranks at #213. Her origins could be:

• Egyptian, meaning to love/desire
• Hebrew, meaning rebellious/disobediant, or even sea and star.

The youngest sister’s name, Sybil, derives form the Latin name Sibylla and means sibyl – which is a title given to a female whom utters prophecies. She is played by Jessica Brown-Findlay. The name Jessica made her début in William Shakespeare’s play Merchant of Venice. Shakespeare likely based the name on the minor Biblical character Iscah – who was known as Jesca/Jescha in his time. Either way, the name derives from Hebrew and means he beholds. The name Sybil was only given to 4 girls in 2010, whilst Jessica was given to a pretty impressive tally of 4102 – rewarding her with a ranking of #6.

Our next character to mention is The Right Honourable Violet Crawley, Dowager Countess, who is played by the rather wonderful Dame Maggie Smith – born Margaret Natalie Smith. She was married to Robert Stephens before divorce and married to Beverley Cross until his death. She has two sons: Toby and Christopher.

Let’s start with Violet, which derives from the plant. The name is currently lurking just outside the Top 100 at #123. Out of Maggie and her long form of Margaret, it is Maggie who ranks higher – at #276 to Margaret’s #505. The name Margaret means pearl.

The name of her second husband highlights the once masculine edge Beverley possessed – a name which means beaver stream. As for the names of her two sons: Christopher derives from Late Greek and means bearing Christ; Toby is a short form of Tobias, the Greek form of Tobiah, which means Yahweh is good. Christopher dropped out of the Top 100 in 2010 to #104, whilst Toby has recently entered the Top 100 at #54.

The name Beverley no longer ranks for males, whilst 6 female Beverleys were born in 2010.

The last two Crawleys are called Matthew and Isobel. The name Matthew means gift of Yahweh, and is a Top 100 favourite at #41. Then we have Isobel, which is the Scottish form of Isabel. The name Isabel herself is a medieval variant of the already mentioned Elizabeth. There are currently a few versions of Isobel in the England&Wales Top 100:

• Isabella at #12
• Isabelle at #17
• Isabel at #58
• Isobel at #75

Matthew Crawley is played by actor Daniel Jonathan Stevens. Daniel derives from Hebrew and means God is my judge, whilst Jonathan is also from Hebrew and means Yahweh has given. Daniel lurks just outside the Top 10 at #11, whilst Jonathan is a little lower down at #141.

Last, but by no means least, we have Isobel Crawley who is played by Penelope Alice Wilton, and both names are rather in vogue in Britain at the moment. Alice is currently at #43, whilst Penelope is at #272; her common short form of Penny is at #396.

Nothing is more homely than a good brew, snapped by me in Covent Garden.

Not content with having a gazillion different blogs to read new posts on a regular basis, I’ve recently taken a delve into vlogs as well.

One video that really caught my eye was by littlelunaful, who is a northern lass a few years younger than me. She talked about what she described as homestyle names, defining them as being comforting, familiar, informal and simple. I must say I found myself really liking some of the names she placed in this category. The names she selected for her list included:

Girls:

Bonnie

Celia

Cora

Effie

Kitty

Lottie

Nina

Tilly

Vera

Willa

Boys:

Cal

Clay

Cy

Cyrus

Eli

Grady/Gradie

Leo

Admittedly, I found the male names a more eclectic list than the female one, but it’s a good collection of names nevertheless. Of course, I couldn’t resist coming up with my own ideas of names which one could consider homestyle:

Alice

Connie

Hattie

Molly

Petal

Poppy

Susie

Freddie

George

James/Jamie – Jimmy?

Jools/Jules

Rupert

Sid

Anyone care to suggest others?

The child that inspired this post, Hero, from poptower.com

I could only cover one family this week – I almost posted this on Friday after finding out about some of the names but held back a few days, I even resisted the temptation to post some of the names on Twitter.

Mark Fiennes was an English photographer and illustrator. He is a cousin of the noted explorer Sir Ranulph Fiennes. He met and married a lady named Jennifer Lash in the 1960s. As an aside, his wife was more often known as Jini, and was a noted artist and novelist. Sadly, these days neither are still with us, but together they welcomed no less than seven children:

Martha Maria

Ralph Nathaniel

Joseph Alberic (twin of Jacob)

Jacob Mark (twin of Joseph)

Sophie Victoria

Magnus Hubert

We could stop here, but if you dig a little deeper, there are plenty more wonderful names to discover. Let’s start with Jacob, who is married to a lady named Melanie. Together they have two children, born in the early 2000s:

Teale Isabella

Nathaniel

Whilst both Isabella and Nathaniel are relatively heard of, the choice of Teale as the name for their eldest child is certainly unexpected. Nathaniel could simply be a family name, given that young Nathaniel shares his name with Uncle Ralph, for whom the name is a middle name and with one of his cousins whom I shall mention shortly.

I also wanted to mention the children of Magnus, with his wife Maya, born in the late 1990s:

Cheyenne Allegra

Shanti Atalanta

The name Shanti was recently championed over at Name Fancy, and I certainly was surprised to see it used on a child so soon after reading the post. But alas, it is the last sibset which really inspired this post. It was inspired by a rather humourous email from a friend asking whether I was aware the the actor who played a young Lord Voldemort was called Hero. How ironic, I remember thinking.

Martha is married to George Tiffin, and together they have three children:

Titan Nathaniel

Hero Beauregard (m)

Mercy Jini Willow

Some scoff at using Hero as a girls name, despite the historical usage, so I kindly present them with a male Hero, born in the late 1990s. It’s worth noting that Hero’s uncle, Ralph Fiennes, plays Voldemort in the films.

Floriane Pugin, from downhillfantasy.com

I’m not exactly sure why I decided to cover these two names specifically this week, but hey ho, that’s just how we roll. I did, however, specifically try and choose names to cover which I’m mostly indifferent about, given that I’ve covered several favourites over the past few weeks. That’s not to say that these aren’t great name, I’ll surely be singing their praises once I’ve finished writing this post anyhow.

In the interests of truthfulness, I have mentioned Romulus beforehand in a post about my favourite names ending with the letter s. In all fairness, I quite like the name Remus and opted to mention Romulus with him given that they almost go hand in hand.

Romulus is slightly obscure in that most have likely never seen him used on an actual person, but no doubt that many are familiar with his associated tale. He comes from Roman legend, where he was the twin brother of Remus. Together they founded the city of Rome, but had a dispute about where it should lie; Romulus wished for it to be built on the Palatine Hill, whilst Remus preferred the Aventine Hill. As a result of these disputes, Remus was killed. Romulus went on to found the city, and named it after himself.

The Latin name for the city is Roma, which is sometimes found as a female name. She’s not to be confused with Rona, a name borne by two Scottish islands. The Italian form of Romulus is Romolo, and the feminine form thus Romola. It is also believed that the name Romeo may be an Italian derivation of Rome.

It is worth mentioned here that there are a few Rom- names which remain unrelated to Romulus, but may be mistaken for being so:

Romilly, a French place name of uncertain origins

Romilda, derived from Ragnhild, which means famed battle

However, there are several more names which derive from the name Roman, a name itself that originates as meaning a citizen of Rome, these names therefore are linked to Romulus. Aside from Roman, there is:

Romaine, french feminine form of Roman.

Romana, feminine form of Roman.

Romano, italian version of Roman.

Romany, poetic name for the Roman Empire.

Another name I would like to briefly mention is the name of an obscure saint we’ve mentioned once before: Romlua. She came from near Rome, so most take her name to derive from the name of the city, or indeed Romulus himself.

Moving on to our female name, I’ve recently met a young French girl by the name of Floriane, and it certainly struck me, although I’m yet to really be won over by her. If I’m honest, I’m not particularly enthralled by the name Florence either, pretty though she may be.

Whilst Florence ranked at #54 in England&Wales in 2010, Floriane did not rank at all. However, there were a few other Flo- names which did make it into the data:

Flora – #409

derived from the Latin flos, which means flower. The name of the Roman Goddess of flowers.

Florrie – #1180

a common nickname for Florence.

Florie – #3156

an alternate spelling of Florrie.

Florance – #4012

an alternate spelling of Florence.

Florentina – #5707

female form of Florentinus, which means belonging to Florens.

Flores – #5707

more often seen as a Spanish surname, it means flowers.

Floryn – #5707

likely an alternate spelling of Floren; in Latin florens meaning blossoming.

Other similar flower-meaning names include Fleur, the French word for flower and one which ranked at #499 in 2010.

The name Floriane itself is no doubt a feminised form of the name Florian – a popular male name in France. It derives from the Roman named Florus, which itself comes from the Latin flos, meaning flower. It can alternately be spelling either Florianne or Florienne.

One noted bearer of the name is Floriane Pugin, a French mountain biker who has enjoyed reasonable success in her discipline.

So, there you have it, two names I’ve yet to really decide my opinion on. I would like to say that I really like them both, but that would be a tad too dishonest for me. Feel free to make up your own minds about these two.

Candace Flynn, from fanpop.com

Today’s post was inspired by a chance meeting with a five-year old Gertie this week. Gertie? I’m still in the dark about whether Gertie was indeed short for Gertrude, given the briefness of the encounter.

The name Gertrude is one which many have labelled as being hopelessly out of fashion, even to this day. Plenty of other names join her in this category, and I’ve picked out a few which could make a comeback based on their similarities to other popular names. If not, maybe another lesser-known name also similar may take your fancy.

Edna

I covered this name a few months ago as part of the Family Names For Sale series. She has potential, when you consider the similarities she shares with both Emma and Ella. Or indeed Eden. Infact, pre-conceived ideas aside, a sibset of Ella, Emma and Edna could be cousins to the Maude, Mollie and Maisie one we mentioned a few posts ago.

The name Edna itself could possibly derive from Hebrew and means rejuvenation, pleasure. An Irish Saint by the name Edana is sometimes referred to as Edna. Other similar names you may never have come across before include Edmé, which is a French short form of Edmund used for either gender – although it may be spelt Edmée for girls. There’s also Eda, which is a name mostly used in Turkey meaning either flirtateous airs or well-mannered. Finally, there is Ede which is usually used as a nickname for Edith. It’s also a name in it’s own right, with several variations: Eadu, Eade, Ead, Edde and Edda. The name means rich, happy.

Ethel

A name to really reconsider given the recent, rather unexpected usage of the name by British singer Lily Allen. I’ve been seeing the name Edith mentioned more and more, which shares similar, soft sounds with Ethel. Then we have names such as Isabel and Mabel which end exactly the same as Ethel, but enjoy much heightened popularity.

The name Ethel has her origins as a nickname for other names such as Ethelred, Ethelbert, Ethelburga and Ethelfleda. She derives from Old English and means noble. A fun fact to remember is that Ethel is, at her most basic, the Old English equivalent of the Germanic name Adela, which also means noble.

Other name I think sound similar to Ethel include Estelle, which is a French name that means star. There is also Estrild, which comes from Old English and is a combination of the name Eastre and the element hild which means battle. The Welsh version of Isolde is also worth a mention: Esyllt and also the Hungarian version of Attila: Etel.

Gertrude

Aside from recently meeting a little Gertie, the name Gertrude also happens to be Candace Flynn’s middle name. Don’t know who she is? Approach the nearest tween you know: Candace is Phineas and Ferb’s elder sister from the Disney Channel show Phineas and Ferb.

Gertrude is a name of Old German origins, from which she means spear of strength. I picked her out not because she’s similar to any popular name, but more that she’s a staple on these kinds of lists. Surely, eventually, she’ll make her move off them?

A slightly similar, equally fusty name is Geraldine. There were two very high profile owners of the name circa the late 90s, but it seems neither inspired the masses. The first is Ginger Spice, Geri Halliwell and the second is Dawn French’s character in Vicar of Dibley: Geraldine Granger. The name was coined by poet Henry Howard, Earl of Surrey. It is usually taken as being the feminine form of the male name Gerald, which means rule of the spear.

Another name I wanted to mention is Gerda, which was the name of the wife of Freyr in Norse Mythology. In Old Norse, the name means fenced in. Finally, there is also Gerlinde, which combines the spear element with one meaning soft, tender or even serpent. She’s like a cross between Gertrude and Rosalinde.

Myrtle

Recently covered by Kristen of Marginamia and at first glance she is perhaps hindered slightly by the Moaning Myrtle association. However, the evergreen shrub by the name of myrtle is oft associated with love, peace, fertility and youth. Myrtle is mostly here because I suggested her as a 4th sister in the aforementioned Maude, Maisie and Mollie sibset and at least two of those three names are inside the Top 120.

There are plenty of floral names such as Myrtle which have yet to be embraced by the masses, but the one which I immediately drew similarities with Myrtle is Myristica – the botanical name for nutmeg.

A similar name is the Irish Myrna, which means joy, affection. We also have Morwyn, which comes from Welsh and means maiden. The name Miriam ultimately comes from Mary, and so could Moira if we take her to be the anglicised form of Máire.

Norma

The real name of Marilyn Monroe, and another name striking similar to Emma. The name Norma could either come as a feminine form of Norman – a name which comes from Old England and means northman. It could also derive from the Latin word norma, which means rule.

In terms of lesser known sound-alikes, there is Nona, which is Latin for ninth. There is also Noor, a name of Arabic origins which means light – sometimes, infrequently used as a short form of Eleanor. The name Nora could also be a variation of Noor, but is usually taken to be a short form of Honora. Normina is the Scottish female form of Norman, whilst Nortia was the Etruscan Goddess of fate which rather leads us in a circle back to Nona – the name of one of the three Fates in Roman Mythology.

Phyllis

The name of the youngest sibling from Edith Nesbitt’s The Railway Children. Her elder siblings were Roberta ‘Bobby‘ and Peter. Aside from the literary connection, the name Phyllis also appears in Greek mythology, where she was the daughter of the King of Thrace. The name derives from Greek and means leaves, foliage.

To me, this name is similar in sound to a combination of Alice and Philippa – both names of relative popularity right now. Alice means noble, whilst Philippa means friend of horses. I also find Phyllis to be similar to Top 100 England&Wales name Phoebe, which means bright, radiant.

Going on to lesser-known names similar to Phyllis, we have Philomena. I work at a banqueting-esque establishment and have served no less than three different Philomena’s in the past month, all certainly beyond the 50 mark. The name means friend of strength or beloved. There is also Philomel, which is a poetic word for nightingale. Finally there is Phlox, the Greek for fire.

New McLaren for 2012, from theweek.co.uk

This week has whooshed by for me, so it seems apt to focus on a sport know for it’s quick pace. It’s about a month now until Formula 1 kicks off the 2012 season, and I’m itching to see whether broadcaster Sky will live up to expectations as it takes over the UK coverage. If you’re outside of the UK, you may not be aware that Bernie Ecclestone sold the TV rights to Sky starting this season – which is a subscription service. This made it quite the controversial deal, given that F1 is on the list of sports which must be available to watch for free, thus on one of the channels available through Freeview. Technically, they’re sharing the coverage with the BBC, but there’s been a mini storm amongst fans here.

But, in the off season there have been a few changes to the driver line-up. Notably, three French drivers have race-seats, after literally no French drivers in the 2011 season.

Charles Pic (Marussia) (FRA)

Jean-Éric Verge (Toro Rosso) (FRA)

Kimi Räikkönen (Lotus) (FIN)

Narain Karthikeyan (HRT) (IND)

Nico Hülkenberg (Force India) (GER)

Pedro de la Rose (HRT) (ESP)

Romain Grosjean (Lotus) (FRA)

I’ve been watching quite a bit of news this week, and one name that really caught my attention was Nikel. Half Nico, half Michael and rather appealing to the chemist in me. The reporter didn’t pronounce the name like nickel, though, more like Michael with an N. Another interesting thing to note from watching the news is that of mother and daughters having matchy names. We mentioned an Amelia with daughters Ame and Lia a few weeks ago, and I’ve recently seen a mother called Mollie with a daughter named Millie.

from dvdsinside.com

Yesterday we talked about some of my favourite names inside the England&Wales Top 100, so now for a complete change of tune. Today we’re talking about a selection of less-than-usual names I’ve come across these past few days.

Soren - The name I intended to cover yesterday seems a fitting way to start today’s post. I covered the name Sora as a name of the week not too long ago, and I recently stumbled across the name Soren twice in one day. It seemed a sign at the time.

Now, in Nortern Europe this name is seen as Sören in Sweden and Germany, whilst he’s Søren in Norway and Denmark. The former is simply a cultural variation of the latter, whilst the latter himself in the Danish form of Severinus. If you thought we’d go a post without mentioning Harry Potter, you were wrong (ironically, Harry was the first name in yesterday’s post). The name Severinus, or Severus, means stern, serious or strict. It’s Italian and Spanish offshoot is Severo, whilst the Finnish prefer Severi and the Frenchies opt for Séverin. There’s several other relations which can be found here. One that did catch my eye is Sévèrine – the French feminine form which seems oddly appealing in a French accent.

That means, therefore, that Soren isn’t technically related to the name Sora, which means sky in Japanese.

Papaya – A recent addition to the crop of British celeb babies, born to Alicia Douvall late last year. It’s the name of the fruit of a Papaya tree, so in a way it’s like the 21st century version of Peaches. Which reminds me, the original Peaches [Geldof] recently announced that she plans to name her unborn son Astala. It rather reminded me of the name of musician Pete Doherty’s son: Astile.

Paprika – I used to watch this kids show called Blues Clues as a child, where many characters were household items. ‘Lo and behold, the salt and pepper shakers (Mr Salt and Mrs Pepper) had a daughter named Paprika, who was a Paprika shaker. The happy couple also had another ‘child’ named Cinnamon, who was a boy. If you think this is confusing, I used to think that Blue the dog was male, because blue is a boy’s colour, so the character must be a boy. There was a another dog named Magenta, who clearly must be a girl because pink is a girls colour. Turns out both were female dogs, and Periwinkle the cat was a boy and there’s also his friend Plum the parrot which I think must be male, too, but I remain unsure. Either way, this all added up to a very confused me.

Callisto – The name derives from Greek and means most beautiful. She was a fair maiden in Greek mythology, and was a favourite of Artemis. After attracting the attention of Zeus, he then transformed her into a bear to protect her from the wrath of Hera. She was later placed amongst the constellations in Ursa Major – which is also known as the Great Bear. Similar name Calliope also exists in Greek mythology, being the name of one of the muses. Her name means beautiful face. A lesser known name from Greek mythology is Callirhoe, which means beautiful stream. Two daughters of river Gods from Greek mythology wore this name.

from flickr.com

I mention not-so-usual names quite a bit – I originally intended on covering a name given to only 20 boys in England&Wales in 2010 today, but put it on hold for another day. Instead, we’re talking about some Top 100 names I’m glad to see popular, and if I’m really honest with myself, I would happily use any of these names in a heartbeat.

Harry

Deep down, I know I’d love to use the name Harry. He does get a bit of a bad rap in some areas – usually by those who pronounce the same the same as the word hairy. Here in the UK, they’re completely different and that’s probably why he’s so much more successful here. You’d think the Harry Potter series would’ve promoted the British pronunciation elsewhere, but it seems to have made little impact. Either way, I find myself rathering Harry to Henry. I’m honestly unsure of why, certainly in the UK, you would use Henry and then use the nickname Harry – except for family/personal reasons. I guess I could understand it in the States where Henry is just so much more popular than Harry.

Of course, some of you will predictably want to only use him as a nickname, so here’s a quick list of potential ideas for full names of Harry:

Harper; Harrier (previously mentioned); Harold; Harvey; Horatio; Harding; Hardy; Amishar; Berhard/Bernard; Charbonnet; Charles; Charleston/Charlton; Harlow; Harrison; Harrod; Hartley; Harvard; Lothar; Harrison; Richard; Sacha; Zachariah/Zachary; Christopher.

Harry was at #3 in England&Wales in 2010 and he means home ruler. That is, if you’re deriving him from Henry.

Archie

I guess my heart did sink a little when I heard Rebecca Woolf proclaim that she doesn’t like the name Archie, and fights against her son Archer becoming one. These days it does seem more likely that parents wanting a long form of Archie would opt for Archer over Archibald. I like the idea of Archer, in that I happen to call the same part of the world home as Robin Hood once did – one of the most famed archers of legend. Back in Medieval times, you’d have been hard pressed to find an English man who could not wield a bow and arrow, as men were trained from the age of 7 by their father. The name Archibald somewhat reflects the characteristics of an archer with his meanings: Genuine; bold; brave.

One could call Archie the British Emma – like Emma with Emily, he has benefitted hugely from the popularity of the name Alfie. I know of plenty of people opting to use Archie over Alfie due to his position as being the lesser popular of the two – although these days the gap is relatively small. In 2010, Archie ranked at #24, whilst Alfie ranked at #4.

Stanley

I think I love him because he is just so hopelessly uncool in the eyes of many. That’s probably why I’m currently reconsidering my position on Percy. Surprisingly popular in this fair isle – slightly more so in Wales (#70) than England (#100) on rankings – there could be a variety of reasons why. The main character in popular sitcom Porridge was called Norman Stanley Fletcher ‘Fletch’, and is widely regarded as a great comic creation. We also have the explorer Sir Henry Morten Stanley – and of course there’s also Stan Shunpike and Stanley Yelnats from the fictional world. Of course, Stanley has also hugely benefited from the sudden interest in ‘old people names’. The name Stanley means stone clearing.

As much as I try to be open to the world of unisex names, the fact that Nameberry list Stanley as a female name unsettles me somewhat, more than the fact he’s listed on their Names No Boy May Be Cool Enough For list.

Jenson/Sonny

If you’re thinking, huh, I didn’t realise Sonny was in the top 100, you’d be half right. Sonny ranks at #100 in Wales alone (#113 in England, and combined at #111). It’s a slight cheat, yes, but if it seems apt to mention him with Jenson. The latter name is popular because of the F1 driver, and part of me is beyond thrilled because I did wonder whether parents would be put off by the ‘Jen‘ part of the name (especially with Jennifer lingering around). I guess the driver is well-known enough for parents to be prepared to use him.

As for Sonny, I’m slightly surprised by the uptake of the name, but know I shouldn’t really be. Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Richard Jones welcomed their own Sonny way back in 2004. Brother Kit Valentine followed in 2009, and they’ve recently announced that they’re expecting another bundle of joy later on this year.

Maisie

Most of you will know that I’m a fan of Maisie. She’s a nickname for Mairead, the Scottish form of Margaret. Her Scottish origins go some way to explaining her fierce popularity in this part of the world, despite Anglo-Scottish relations never being particularly close – and potentially to grow further apart if Alex Salmond gets his way. It’s also worth noting that whilst Maisie ranks at #14 in 2010 in England&Wales, the #15 spot is taken my sound sister Daisy.

Poppy

Thinking about it, I hardly ever see this name discussed along the likes of Rose, Clementine and Lily and that could be because she’s nowhere to be seen in the States. I checked, too, and she hasn’t been in the Top 1000 at all in the past 100 years, although she was given to 118 girls in 2010. I’m also quite surprised I’ve never really looked in depth at Poppy, because she is a personal favourite of mine – alongside plenty of other P- names including, but not exclusive to fellow floral names Primrose and Peony.

As a possibly source of her success, I’ve had plenty of friends and acquaintances tell me that should they have a daughter in November, they’d name her Poppy, as a reference to the annual Poppy Appeal which runs from October-time to Remembrance day; It’s run by The Royal British Legion. My local bus service has started adorning their fleet with poppies in the last year or two. I know last year that there was a stand-off between Fifa and the England squad when their plan to wear a new-design shirt featuring the poppy in their match against Spain was met with a ban from Fifa. In the end a compromise of an armband featuring a poppy was reached. It did, however, cause widespread outrage which just shows how highly the imagery of the poppy is held.

Imogen

I first came across this name about 6 years ago on a six year old, and it was said aloud before I heard it said. My first thought was wow, her parents named her imagine, that’s really sweet. It’s a simple mistake, and her creation came from one: Shakespeare intended on calling his character in Cymbeline, Innogen, not Imogen until a mistake in the printing occured – altering her name to Imogen and as thus she remained unchanged back to her intended form. It’s likely that the name means maiden and she ranked at #26 in England&Wales in 2010.

Isla

I do like how this name sounds, although some are troubled by her usual spelling – wanting to sound the s when she should remain silent. One can only hope that the high profile of actress Isla Fisher will lead to increased awareness of how to saw her name, not that this worked with Harry Potter. The name Isla derives from the name of a Scottish island – Islay, which is pronounced the same as Isla. An interesting tidbit is that Behind the Name considers Islay a male name. That makes Isla, in theory, part of a growing band of place names you never realised you were using. She therefore joins the ranks of Sofia and Stanley. Isla also happens to be the Spanish word for island and she ranked at #22 in England&Wales in 2010.

Eliza

I’m not a particular fan of Beth – despite having two lovely workmates with the name; both are just Beth. It therefore figures that I should have a slight preference for Eliza over Elizabeth, but I find myself non-the-bothered. Going back to the previous name, I recently over heard a lady considering the idea of naming her soon-to-be-born daughter Elizabeth – but then using the nickname Isla. Looking at the letters of Elizabeth, it definitely works and thus the pool of Elizabeth diminutives grows. Speaking of them, there’s a great little Name Challenge over at Upswing Baby Names this week concerning offshoots of Elizabeth. The name Elizabeth means my God is an oath and Eliza ranked at #93 in England&Wales in 2010 (Elizabeth at #49).