6 June, 2011
Lou @ Mer de noms
Name Spot of the Wek
Abdullahmani, Avril, Baxter, Ben, Bertram, Clara, Clarita, Clementine, Clemmie, Guinevere, Hastings, Huw, Iona, Jenson, Kingsley, Leonie, Ludo, Lynden, Magnolia, Nell, Olive, Opal, Pancras, Parolles, Randolph, Vera, Winston
The Olympic Rings at St. Pancras station, London. I found out last week that I managed to get two tickets in the 2012 draw 
As you probably know by now, I spent all weekend in London, and it’s quite easily my most favourite place on Earth. But maybe that’s because I always meet the nice people in London. Either way, it made for some interesting name spotting:
Abdullahmani
Avril
Baxter
Bertram
Guinevere
Huw
Jenson
Lynden (Male)
Nell
Opal
Pancras (I travelled through St. Pancras station, one day I will look him up)
Vera
A few days ago I saw Ben Fogle’s announcement that he’d welcomed his second child, a little girl named Iona. Such a lovely name, and she joins elder brother Ludo. Personally, I always think of Ludo Decker, Til Schweiger’s character in the german film: Keinohrhasen, when I hear Ludo.
The aim of my London trip was to go and see All’s Well that Ends Well at Shakespeare’s Globe, and I came away with a love of the name Parolles, a character in the play.
Whilst in London, I made time to finally go through the Cabinet War Rooms, which in itself was a treasure trove of names:
Clarita ‘Clara’
Clement
Clementine (known as Clemmie)
Hastings
Kingsley
Leonie
Magnolia
Olive
Randolph
Winston
And whilst I remember, the picture in a recent post is not Embankment, it’s Bank. Specifically the central line station at Bank. It’s nice to have that issue cleared up.
3 May, 2011
Lou @ Mer de noms
Name Spot of the Wek
Alex, Anita, Ash, Ashbeck, Ashley, Beck, Chris, Edith, Elvis, Fearne, Fiona, Huw, India, Jake, Paula, Phillipa, Sophie
The Royal Wedding coverage was interesting for many reasons, but more so when watching the BBC coverage, as they seemed to have chosen pundits based on their names:
Huw Edwards: Main Anchor
Fiona Phillips: Main Pundit
Fearne Cotton: Outside Buck Palace
Sophie Raworth: Inside Westminster
Jake Humphrey: On Board the legendary Lancaster
Paula Reed&Phillipa Lepley: Dress Discussing
Edith Bowman: St. Andrews
Alex Jones: Buckleberry
Anita Rani: Parliament Square
Chris Hollins: The Mall
I have several observations on these names:
- Huw is welsh, and thus, bears the welsh version of Hugh.
- Edith is in her mid-30s. Sophie is mid-40s.
- Alex Jones was born Charlotte Alexandra, but bears a professional name which is gender neutral
- Fearne’s spelling of her name has always intrigued me, but it suits her, since she is outspokening vegetarian and all things world-friendly.
Then we have the park incident. No, I’ve stopped talking about the Royal Wedding, the local park near me was the location of another ‘name spot’ last week. A lady shouted ‘ Ashbeck’, and there I was, comtemplating the name when I saw a young boy and a young girl running towards her, clearly, she meant to shout ‘Ash, Beck’, but the two got smooshed together in the shout. I have two other observations about this:
- I late discovered the boy to be named Ashley, due to his father calling him so.
- Yesterday, whilst shopping, I happened upon a bottle of water branded Ashbeck.
And onto name spot #3: Yesterday on the train, I do get about, I happened upon a gossip magazine, and inside it talked about a Z-Lister (Gary Lucy) who’d just welcomed a son, Elvis, to join big sister India.
8 January, 2011
Lou @ Mer de noms
Real Babies
Aidan, Aiden, Alexa, Alexander, Alexandra, Alice, Alicia, Alisdair, Alistair, Amy, Ana, Andrew, Anne, Ashley, Beatrice, Beatrix, Ben, Benjamin, Bryn, Cara, Caroline, Catherine, Chloe, Christopher, Clara, Clare, Connor, Conor, David, Eleanor, Eliza, Elizabeth, Ellen, Emily, Emma, Esme, Esther, Eugenie, Finn, Frances, Freddie, Frederick, Hannah, Hayley, Helen, Helena, Hugh, Hugo, Huw, Jack, Jacob, Jakub, James, Jennifer, Jessica, Joanne, Joe, John, Jonathan, Joseph, Joshua, Karolina, Kathryn, Katie, Laura, Lauren, Leanne, Liam, Lila, Lilia, Lillian, Lily, Lucy, Maria, Marie, Matteaus, Matthew, Michael, Mollie, Molly, Natasha, Olivia, Rhian, Roxanne, Ryan, Sara, Sarah, Sasha, Sophie, Theo, Theodore, Thomas, Vanessa, William
Let’s number-crunch. Courtesy of my sister, I got my hands on the class lists for her year (grade) at school. The names totalled around 150, and when we factor in the sixth form class list, who are two years older, we have a reasonably sized data covering popular baby names for catholics (catholic school) in England in the early 1990s:
British Babies Born Circa 1990-1994
BOYS – ALPHABETICALLY
Aidan +Aiden
Alexander x3 +Alistair +Alisdair
Andrew x2
Ashley x2
Benjamin x2 +Ben
Bryn +Finn
Christopher x2
Connor +Conor
David x4
Hugo +Hugh +Huw
Jack x5
Jacob +Jakub
James x7
John +Jonathan
Joseph x7 +Joe
Joshua x2
Frederick + Freddie
Matthew x2 +Matteaus
Michael x4
Ryan x2
Theodore +Theo
Thomas x7
William x2 +Liam x2
BOYS – NUMERICALLY (3 or more)
Joseph et al = 8
James = 7
Thomas = 7
Daniel = 6
Alexander et al = 5
Jack = 5
Michael = 4
William et al = 4
Benjamin et al = 3
Hugo et al = 3
Matthew et al = 3
GIRLS – ALPHABETICALLY
Alexandra x2 +Alexa
Alice x2 +Alicia
Amy x2
Ana + Anne +Joanne +Leanne +Rhian +Roxanne
Beatrice +Beatrix x2
Cara +Clare +Clara
Caroline +Karolina
Chloe x3
Eleanor x3 +Ellen x2 +Helen x2 +Helena
Elizabeth +Eliza
Emma x2 +Emily
Esther +Esme
Eugenie x2
Frances x2
Hannah x2
Hayley x2
Jennifer x3
Jessica x3
Kathryn +Catherine +Katie x2
Laura x5 +Lauren
Lucy x4
Lily x2 +Lila +Lillian +Lilia
Maria x2 +Marie
Molly +Mollie
Natasha +Sasha x2
Olivia x3
Sarah +Sara
Sophie x3
Vanessa x2
GIRLS – NUMERICALLY (3 or more)
Eleanor et al = 8
Ana et al = 6
Lily et al =5
Kathryn et al = 4
Lucy = 4
Alexandra et al = 3
Beatrice et al = 3
Cara et al = 3
Chloe = 3
Emma et al = 3
Jennifer = 3
Jessica = 3
Natasha et al = 3
Olivia = 3
Philippa = 3
Sophie = 3
MALE/FEMALE
Daniel x6 +Danielle
George x2 +Georgina
Harry +Hattie +Harriet
Phillip +Philippa x3
Valentino +Valentina
THE IRISH GANG
Sean x2 +Shaun +Sian
Sinead +Seamus +Roisin +Bronagh +Lorcan +Ciara x2 +Niall
Patrick x2
THE NOTABLES
The prevalence of Irish names is not taken as uncommon in a catholic school.
Jack was outnumbered by several names: Joseph, James and Thomas. He began his stay at the top of the UK Top 100 list at the end of the decade. Two of the Jacks had the same surname.
Both of the Ashley’s, born when America embraced the name as a female one, were male.
The Eugenie’s were born just after Princess Eugenie, and the Beatrice/trixes born after Princess Eugenie’s sister: Princess Beatrice.
Non of the Lucy’s were a Lucille, Lucienne etc. They were all just Lucy.
The Emma’s outnumbered the Emily.
From personal knowledge:
-None of the Philippa’s in the list shortens their name to Pippa.
-All of the Eleanor’s were nicknamed Ellie.
* In the interests of not boring you all to death with an endless list of data, any name on the class lists which appeared once, without a similar name has been omitted from the data. This accounts for around 30 names out of the roughly estimated 240 names.
7 May, 2010
Lou @ Mer de noms
Boy Names, Girl Names
Aderyn, Bethan, Branwen, Bryn, Carys, Ffion, Griffith, Gwendolen, Huw, Lowri, Morgan, Paderau, Rhodri, Rhys, Seren, Taliesin, Tegan, Vaughn
If Welsh is known for anything, it is it’s love of consonants. Here, though, we look at some names from the valleys that don’t over-do that love:
Bryn
- Means hill, mound in Welsh. BRIN
Griffith
- Welsh meaning strong fighter.
Huw
- Welsh form of Hugh.
Morgan
- Unlike in the US, the name Morgan still persists as a largely male name. It came into the spotlight as a female name due to Morgan le Fay. The name itself means sea circle.
Paderau
- Meaning beads or rosary.
Rhodri
- Means wheel king in Welsh. ROD-ree.
Rhys
- Means enthusiasm in Welsh. Pronounced RHEES.
Taliesin
- Means shining brow, from the Welsh tal and iesin, meaning brow and shining respectively. tal-ee-ES-in
Vaughn
- From a Welsh surname which was derived from Welsh bychan meaning little. VAWN.
Aderyn
- Means bird in Welsh. a-DEH-rin.
Bethan
- Welsh diminuative of Elizabeth. BETH-an.
Branwen
- From Welsh, meaning beautiful raven. Perfect for parents looking for a tomboy name. BRAN-wen.
Carys
- From the Welsh caru, meaning love. KA-ris.
Ffion
- Means foxglove in Welsh. Pronounced either FEE-on or EFF-ee-on. The former is the correct Welsh pronunciation.
Gwendolen
- Means white ring in Welsh. GWEN-da-lin
Lowri
- Welsh form of Laura.
Seren
- Means star in Welsh. SEH-ren
Tegan
- Derived from Welsh teg, thus meanig fair. The Welsh pronunciation is TEG-an, rhyming with Megan, although many use TEE-gan.
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