Some Popular A Names, Girls

A fortnight ago I spent the week looking at some less than popular A names. Therefore, as almost a follow up of sorts, I thought it might be worthwhile to take a look at the other end of the spectrum at some popular names beginning with the letter A, specifically those in the Top 200 in England&Wales in 2013. With that in mind I’ve compiled a list of the Top 10 A names who’ve risen the most in the rankings since 2008, and now lie within the Top 100.

In total there were 16 names that have risen in the past five years.

1. Amaya

From her 2008 ranking of #464 to her 2013 one of #198 (a rise of 266 places), Amaya is the highest climbing female A name within the Top 200. This name is a variant of Amaia, which means the end in Basque. Amaia is also the name of a mountain and village in the Basque region of Spain.

2. Anaya

It’s interesting to note that the second highest climbing name is only one letter different from the first. Anaya climbed 249 places from #404 to #155. As for her meaning, that’s less clear than Amaya. She is possibly a variant of the Biblical name Anaiah, which means God answers in Hebrew. I’ve also seen some give the name as being from Sanskrit and meaning complete freedom.

3. Ariana

This name rose 174 places from #360 to #186. She’s the Italian form of Ariadne, which comes from Greek means most holy.

4. Arabella

Between 2008 and 2013, this name rose 168 places from #325 to #157. Arabella is a medieval Scottish form of Annabel, a name that is a variant of Amabel, who means lovable.

5. Ayla

This name rose 157 places from #329 to #172 between 2008 and 2013. She has two different origins: she’s Turkish and means moonlight; she’s also a variant of the Hebrew name Elah, and means oak tree.

6. Amira

From #306 in 2008 to #198 in 2013, this means this name has risen 108 places in the last 5 years. Like Ayla, this name has two different origins. The first is that she’s the feminine form of Hebrew name Amir, which means treetop; the second is that she’s the feminine form of the Arabic name Amir, and means commander/prince(ss).

7. Aoife

From a ranking of #298 in 2008 to #192 in 2013, that’s a rise of 106 places. Aoife (pronounced EE-fa) is an Irish name meaning beauty. In Irish legend, Aoife was a warrior princess.

8. Autumn

The first name on the list to have climbed less than 100 places is Autumn, who rose 61 places from #258 to #197. This makes her the second most popular season name in England&Wales, after Summer who ranked at #48 in 2013, down from her peak at #23 in 2008. Whilst Spring does not rank, Winter does at #1018 for the girls and #4685 for the boys.

9. Aleena

This name climbed 55 places from #217 to #162. She could be one of two things: a variant of Alina, or a variant of Alena. The latter is simply of short form of names like Helena and Magdalena. As for Alina, she could also be a short form of names like Adelina and Carolina.

10. Annabelle

The only name on the list inside the Top 100, as she’s risen 51 places from #114 to #63. This is also the second entry on the list for the Amabel family of names, with the first being Arabella at #4.

The other six names are as follows: Alexis (#166 to #120, 46 places); Annie (#162 to #125, 37 places); Alexa (#184 to #162, 22 places); Alice (#46 to #27, 19 places); Ava (#21 to #4, 17 places); Aisha (#105 to #94, 11 places).

What I think is nice about this list is it gives an indication of names that could be on their way into the Top 100 (except for Annabelle, who already is). Whilst it’s unlikely that they’ll all make it into the Top 100,  it remains endlessly fascinating to me that the top 5 names are all from wildly different languages.

Royal Name Speculation

Normally I try to avoid putting out similar posts to ones already circulating in the blogosphere, but since nameberry so nicely asked me for an opinion over on twitter, I figured I might as well chip in to the discussion.

My gut feeling is that George is the top choice for a boy, and indeed Georgina is a worthy of an outside chance for a girl.

Why?

It’s quite simply really: there are only really three living royals who have any likelihood of ascending to the throne: Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry. Of those three, only Prince Charles wears the name George, and only as his third middle name.

That said, the has been speculation before that Prince Charles may take George as his regnal name upon his ascension the the throne, i.e. he becomes George VII, not Charles III. The big reason for this lies along the lines of the previous two sovereigns to bear the name Charles both have questionable legacies (one was a playboy, the other was beheaded).

It’s certainly not an uncommon practice, as whilst our current monarch reigns by her first name, her predecessor and father reigned as George VI, but he was born Albert Frederick Arthur George. Good ol’ Queen Victoria reigned by her middle name, as her first name was Alexandrina.

Other choices for boys are a little less intuitive, given that many clear favourites such as James, Edward and Charles are currently ‘assigned’ so to speak to another prince-ly member of the family (for those wondering, whilst strictly speaking there exists a Prince James, his parents choose to style him as Viscount Severn).

I don’t particularly believe that the Duke&Duchess of Cambridge will choose a first name already in use by another male styled a Prince, not least because of the potential confusion, so this automatically rules several names out of the running for first name status: Philip; Charles; Edward; Henry; James; Andrew; and Michael.

These names are all, however, still just as likely to be used for middle names. It’s worth noting that Michael is the name of the Duchess’ father, and thus despite Michael seeing rare use by the royals, this fact really rather increases the likelihood of Michael’s inclusion.

The glaringly obvious name left over to pick from is Arthur, and this is one of William’s middle names and indeed Prince Charles’ middle name, too. Of course, Prince William could kick off a new family naming trend and give his eldest son the middle name Arthur, too.

Another option is Frederick, also popularly used by royals in the last century or too. Then there’s also the possibility of Alexander, too.

When it comes to the choices for girls, Elizabeth is a clear middle name contender (and there is the chance of her use as a first name, too), being of course the name of our current monarch and the Duchess’ middle name. The variation of Eliza is unlikely for the simple reason that Prince William has a niece via his step-sister Laura Lopes with the name Eliza. Our current Queen was known as Lilibet when she was younger, so one could even speculate about the name Lily being used as a nod to her (although it makes more sense for them to simply use Elizabeth instead). The names Mary and Alexandra are also undeniably in the running, given that both are the Queen’s middle names.

The name Victoria would be a good call as a first name contender, given that currently Princess Eugenie is the only senior royal to bear the name as one of her middles.

Another name I have a gut feeling is in the running is Alice, the name of Prince Philip’s mother. I’m calling this because the name Andrew wasn’t an oft-used royal name in centuries gone by, but ‘lo and behold it was the name of Prince Philip’s father, and now also that of his second eldest son.

A name I’ve yet to see given mention is Margaret, who stands a good chance of being used in the middle name spot as a nod to the late Princess Margaret, younger sister of our current Queen. Her middle name, Rose, is another middle name possibility, albeit more likely for subsequent daughters.

Then we have both Diana and indeed Frances: the name of Prince William’s mother and her middle name. In the eyes of some, Diana is almost a certainty as a middle name should the child be female. It’s also worth noting that the Duchess’ father has Francis as a middle name, creating a greater possibility of the couple’s eventual use of either Frances or Francis.

Sophia is a currently popular name with historical use as a royal name, but she’s not seen much use of late, however, in order to be eligible for the line of succession, you must be a legitimate descendant of Electress Sophia of Hanover.

There’s an outside chance for both Harriet and Henrietta as potential nods to Prince William’s younger brother, Prince Harry. 

Final acknowledgements to other names with an outside chance of use goes to several names from the Duchess’ family, which include: Philippa, Charlotte and Carole/Caroline. Then there are a few more royal picks: Marie; Maud; Adelaide; Helena; Louisa.

What’s for certain is that this is an extensive list of names, and at the end of the day many of these names mentioned above are more likely to be in the running for subsequent children, rather than for a child that will one day most likely ascend to the throne.

Thus, I suggest the three most likely names to be used for each gender:

BOY: George, Charles and Michael

GIRL: Elizabeth, Diana and Alice

Scrabble Names

The names of the eldest 4 kids of the Dutch couple

It may have been a few weeks since news broke about the Dutch couple with five kids, who all have four-letter names using the same four letters (Alex, Lexa, Axel, Xela & Xael), but it continues to remain at the forefront of my mind.

That said, it can get a little forced with an increased number of children. Below is just a selection of attempts at the conundrum by myself and those over at Formspring, with some combinations seeming to work better than others:

• Aidan: Nadia, Diana, Adian, Andia
• Alice: Celia, Lacie
• Amy: Mya, May
• Dolly: Lloyd, Dyoll, Doyll
• Eden: Dene, Ened, Nede, Need, Ende, Edne
• Enzo: Zeno, Nezo, Ezon, Onez
• Inez: Nezi, Enzi
• Jonah: Onjah, Johan, Johna
• Leah: Hale, Aleh, Elah, Hael
• Leia: Alie, Ilea
• Lena: Nela, Lane
• Leon: Elon, Noel, Nelo
• Leona: Elona, Enola, Laneo, Noela, Neola
• Lia: Ali, Lai, Ila
• Lucas: Claus, Lacus, Calus, Culas
• Lyra: Aryl, Lary, Raly, Alry, Ryla
• Mabel: Belma, Ambel, Embla, Melba
• Milo: Lomi, Moil, Ilmo, Moli, Imli
• Myra: Mary, Ramy, Amry
• Ria: Ira, Rai, Ari, Air
• Vera: Reva, Raev
• Zane: Neza, Ezna, Anez, Azne

Anyone have any further contributions?

Experimentation&Pronunciation

So today, I’m partaking in a little experimentation, because it’s always fun to change around formats and try new ones, this is an example of the latter. A word of warning: it was a mostly spur of the moment decision to record this video.

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.

Homestyle Names

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 Crazy Brits

Let’s indulge ourselves with a litte name spotting in the London Birth Announcements, notable names are in bold, siblings in brackets:

Alexandra Charlotte Ozanne, (Isabelle)

Alice Dhanlaxmi

Amelia Jonquil Angharad

Amélie India Lucy, (William)

Beau Vivienne, (Ada Rose)

Celia Jane Vanessa, (Dougal)

Charlotte Carol Jane, (Oscar)

Darcey Carmen Rose, (Theo)

Ellen Andrea Maria

Florence Iona Emily Peel, (Isla and Willa)

Isla Aris

Henrietta Philippa Rose, (Annelies and Martha)

Iona Kathryn, (Imogen May)

Iris Arabella, (Katinka)

Isla Katherine

Isobelle Susannah

Jemima and Willa, twins

Katinka Alice Belsham, (Bella and Freddie)

Katinka Lily

Liberty Valentina Vaughan

Louisa Jane, Alistair

Mair ‘Polly’ Elisabeth Patricia, (Florence)

Marnie

Martha Maud, (Guy)

Martha Sophie Poppy, (Tilly and Olive)

Mary Beatrice Rose

Mary Constance, (Elsa and George)

Molly Elizabeth Sarah

Molly Juliet

Nancy Rebecca, (Lily)

Nancy Rose

Octavia, (Claudia)

Sadie Francesca

Soma Isis, (Seth and Saul)

Tessa Charlotte Jane, (Isabelle and Eliza)

Tessa Honor Bruce, (Tamsin and Jemima)

Willa Victoria Joanna Rees, (Hamish)

Zinnia Alice Victoria

—

Alasdair James Dudley

Alexander George Walter Halley, (Serena)

Archie Geoffrey

Arthur John Christopher, (Thady)

Caspar Anthony Wallace

Freddie Samuel, (Jack and Georgia)

George Alfred Beresford

George James Sherlock

George Raffles Tyndale

Griffyd Hunter Heber

Hector David

Henry Arthur Bromhead, (Jenkyn)

Henry Leonidas Tiberius, (Mark and Rupert)

James Luigi Wood, (Johnny)

Jasper Florian

Lawrence Happy John Owen, (Minnie Love and Heidi Sunshine)

Luke Christopher Æneas, (Angus, Orlando and Cosmo)

Oscar Gürsel

Oscar Jack Peter, (Kit and Jemima)

Peter Jack, Angus

Raphael Willam, (Isabella Flora and Lochlann James)

Rudy Felix James, (Olly and Chloe)

Tarka Alexander Arthur

Tobias Tarquin

Thomas Douglas Marinho

Wilbur Clement, (Patti Plum)

My favourite sibset? It has to be Lawrence Happy, Minnie Love and Heidi Sunshine.

Babies in the early ’90s

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.

Decade Snapshot 1930s/A-Z

Fry's Dainties, from pzrservices.typepad.com

Following on from our 1920s name list, here are the top names for each letter in the US Top 1000 of 1930.

A – Arthur and Alice

B – Billy and Betty

C – Charles and Catherine

D – Donald and Dorothy

E – Edward and Elizabeth

F – Frank and Frances

G – George and Gloria

H – Harold and Helen

I – Ira and Irene

J – James and Joan

K – Kenneth and Kathleen

L – Louis and Lois

M – Marvin and Mary

N – Norman and Nancy

O – Oscar and Opal

P – Paul and Patricia

Q – Quentin and Queen

R – Robert and Ruth

S – Stanley and Shirley

T – Thomas and Thelma

U – Ulysses. No female.

V – Vernon and Virginia

W – William and Wanda

X – none.

Y – Yvonne. No male.

Z – Zane and Zelma