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.

Aveza

Yesterday we kicked off Week A with a name I’ve been pining to cover for a long time, whereas today we’re looking instead at a name that’s only very recently crossed my radar: Aveza.

And the use of the word airship appears apt, given that I came across this name via an airship called Dev Aveza, which you can mod into the game Skyrim.

The name Aveza might remind you of Ava, who ranked at #4 in England&Wales in 2013. And you’d be right to think of her, as the names are linked. Well, if you’re looking at the right origin of Ava, that is, for Ava has several.

The first is that if you meet an Iranian Ava, chances are she’ll tell you her name comes from Persian and means voice or sound, which she more than entitled to claim.

But you’re more likely to meet an Ava in the English-speaking world, for which the name has a few possible origins. The first is that Ava is a variant of the name Eve, a name which means life. However, it is the other possible origin which links Ava to Aveza: the name comes from Germanic origins, specifically from the Germanic element avi, which possibly means desired. The name Aveza is an Old Germanic name, also said to be derived from avi, hence the strenuous link between the two names.

Ava and Aveza are not the only names to derives from avi, either. The name Avice came over to England with the Normans, and it was occasionally used throughout the Middle Ages. Over time and with influence from the Latin word avis, meaning bird, the usual spelling became Avis, although in the modern world both Avice and Avis fail to rank in England&Wales.

The name Aveza, however, would make for a certainly unusual pick in today’s modern world, but I reckon with the likes of Ava, Eva and Evie all chilling in and around the Top 100, she pairs recognisable sounds with a pretty zippy ending.

And you could also consider the nickname Avie, who unlike Aveza, ranks #2313. The name Evie, who ranks at #14, also remains a nickname option if you’re looking for something more mainstream to compliment Aveza’s offbeat-ness.

Family Tree Alternatives

Usually when people ask for alternatives of other names, they tend to look at similar-sounding names. However, in this post we’re delving into names related to popular names and picking out some intriguing possibilities for alternative names.

1. Harry and Amelia

Harry was born as a nickname for Henry, and these days is living it large in the #1 spot. Another offshoot of Henry is the Scottish variant Hendry.

Whilst choices were plentiful for Harry, the pool of potential names is smaller for Amelia and basically revolves around the same letter combinations, e.g. Amalia, Amélie etc. Perhaps the best bet is Emelia.

2. Oliver and Olivia

There are plenty of weird and wonderful international variants of Oliver, but I’m rather partial to Noll, which is an old medieval diminutive for the name.

Oliver and Olivia are interrelated, and my favourite other female name in the family tree is almost certainly Olivette.

3. Jack and Lily

There were quite literally a bazillion choices for both names here; in terms of Jack I’m thinking either the Welsh Ianto, or the French Yannick. The name Ianto is a diminutive, like Jack, of Ifan which is the Welsh form of John. As for Yannick, he comes from Yann which is the Breton form of John.

However, a last minute acknowledgement must go to the name Manech: he’s the Basque form of Jean, and Jean is of course the French form of John.

Then we have Lily, and my initial thought was the Scottish form of Lilian: Lillias or Lileas. Or go psuedo-chemistry with Lilium.

4. Alfie and Jessica

The complete opposite of the above pair of names, in that both Alfie and Jessica have few options. Alfie is, of course, a nickname for Alfred, and my best suggestion is Avery: a medieval form of Alfred.

Jessica is a toughie for the simple reason that she has few cousins, however Iscah is an intriguing possibility, being a possible source of the name Jessica.

5. Charlie and Emily

Charlie is a nickname for Charles, and in France they have Charlot. Anyone familiar with the French language will note that the t is silent, thus the name does not sound like Charlotte, more like SHAR-lo.

With Emily we encounter the same problems as with Amelia; there is a tenuous link between Emily and the Welsh name Emlyn, but alas, Emlyn is technically a male name. Best suggestion is likely to be either Emmy, Émilienne or Aemilia.

6. Thomas and Sophie

The Welsh short form for Thomas is Twm (said something like tuwm), or alternatively there is the Scottish variant Tavish.

As for Sophie, in Scandinavia they use Vivi as a nickname for Sofia.

7. Jacob and Ruby

There are, again, a plethora of options to choose from here, but I’m opting for the short’n’sweet option with Jeb.

Being a word name makes Ruby difficult, but the French for Ruby is Rubis and the German is Rubin.

8. James and Grace

For James, I would opt for Jem, which is an old and now rarely used nickname for James.

Ditto Ruby when it comes to Grace; once more turning to French we have both Grâce and Joliesse as translations. The former isn’t so practical, given that the French pronounce it to sound more like grass than grace.

9. Joshua and Ava

We’re venturing into the Arab world for Joshua, with the name Isa; the Arabic form of Jesus.

As for Ava, Chava is undoubtedly a wonderful suggestion – being the Hebrew form of Eve – but she’s mostly reserved to parts of the world not inflicted with the word chav. There is also the option of Hungarian name Évike.

10. William and Isabella

With William, I’m thinking maybe the German and Dutch dimiutive, Wim. Aside from him, we also have the option of Wiley, or even the Dutch Pim.

As for Isabella, being related to Elizabeth gives us plenty of options. As for the ones vaguely similar to Isabella, we have the German name Ilsa, which is a diminutive of Elisabeth.

Sibset of the Week: Coldplay

Snapped by me at the closing ceremony, during the song ‘Yellow’

I’m slightly upset that my time as a GamesMaker has come to an end, but I suspect some of you may be secretly glad because I now have time to devote to blogging once more.

Last night was the closing ceremony of the Paralympic Games, and by a stroke of insane luck I managed to get deployed to the seating area above the two giant plasmas in the north stand. You see, for deployment yesterday we simply picked out of a hat to ensure everyone had an equal chance of getting a shift inside the stadium. One of my friends sadly got ticketing and since they were being pretty strict about loitering last night, she saw 10 minutes at the most of the action, whilst I got to stand in the stadium watching.

The main act of the closing ceremony was Coldplay, who played pretty much all of their big hits.

Coldplay is a four-piece band, and all four members have children.

Let’s start with Mr. Drummer, Will Champion. He is married to a lady named Marianne and they have three children, including fraternal twins:

Ava

Juno

Rex

Then we have Mr. Bassist, Guy Berryman. He only has one child, a daughter, with former wife Joanna:

Nico

Next we have Mr. Guitarist, Jonny Buckland. He has a son and a daughter with wife Chloe:

Violet

Jonah

Finally, need I mention the children of Mr. Lead Singer etc. ? Chris Martin is famously married to Gwyneth Paltrow, and the names of their children are particularly well known:

Apple Blythe Alison

Moses Bruce Anthony

England&Wales 2011 Data: The Big Facts

Oliver and Olivia have officially been overtaken! The new #1s for England&Wales are Harry & Amelia!

Here are the key facts for you all:

• Harry is up 1 place to  #1, whilst Oliver is now #2
• Amelia is up 4 places to #1, whilst Olivia is now #2
• George is out of the Top 10 and replaced by Jacob
• Evie and Chloe are out of the Top 100 and replaced by Ava and Isabella
• Lily replaced Ruby as the most popular name in Wales, whilst Oliver remains #1
• The biggest riser was Jenson, up 27 places to #65
• Other big climbers were Arthur, Dexter and Riley (boy).
• Biggest fallers were Ben, Kyle, Cameron, Reece, Lewis & Owen
• The biggest riser for girls was Eliza, up 31 places to #62
• Other big climbers were Evelyn, Harriet and Sofia
• Big fallers for girls were Caitlin, Katie, Keira, Tia and Lauren.

NEW TOP 100 NAMES

Elsie at #87; Bella at #69; Blake at #79; Elijah at #91; Francesca at #99;Frankie at #84 (boys); Jackson at #99; Kayla at #98; Lydia at #100; Tommy at #65; Willow at #75.

OUT OF THE TOP 100

Aidan, now at #101; Aimee, now at #104; Alexandra, now at #107; Bradley, now at #105; Brandon, now at #118; Kieran, now at #129; Laila, now at #124; Libby, now at #106; Maisy, now at #102; Sam, now at #112;Tilly, now at #103.

Not wanting to brag or anything, but I predicted the fall of Aimee, Alexandra and Libby here, and predicted Elsie gatecrashing the Top 100 here. 🙂

SEASONAL VARIATIONS

• Harry was the most popular name for boys for 9 months in 2011
• Oliver was the most popular name for boys in January, April & June
• Olivia was the most popular name for girls in January, April, July & August
• Lily was the most popular name for girls in February, March and May
• 13 boys names were in the top 10 for at least one month during 2011, compared with 15 for girls
• Holly was the second most popular name for girls during December, and fell to #54 in July
• Summer peaked at #14 in August, and was as low as #71 in December

REGIONAL VARIATIONS

• There are seven common names in the Top 10 for boys when you split the England&Wales data to English data and Welsh data, compared with 6 common names for girls.
• Oliver is #1 in Wales, not Harry.
• Riley, Ethan and Dylan are all in the Welsh Top 10
• Seren, Ella, Mia and Megan are all in the English Top 10
• Daniel and Isabella were #1 in London, where Harry was #6
• Poppy was in the Top 10 in the South West at #9
• Lucy was in the Top 10 in the North East at #10
• Isla was in the Top 10 in the South East at #10
• Both Mohammed and Muhammad were in the Top 10 in Yorkshire&the Humber, West Midlands & London
• Riley was in the Top 10 at #10 in both Yorkshire&the Humber & East Midlands

Finally, a comment by ONS on the data:

There are a number of possible reasons why the popularity of baby names can change over time.
The popularity of names can be influenced by names of famous figures or current celebrities and
what they name their own babies. However, it is an individual choice which can be influenced by a
number of other factors such as the religious, cultural and/or ethnic identities of the parents or the
names of family, friends or fictional characters. As such, there is a great diversity of baby names. In
2011, there were 723,913 live births in England and Wales (ONS, 2012), with over 28,000 different
boys’ names and just over 35,000 different girls’ names registered. The top ten names only account
for 14 per cent of all names in 2011.

Oh, here is the new Top 100, including the change in rank since 2010:

1	HARRY	7,523	+2	AMELIA	5,054	+4
2	OLIVER	7,007	-1	OLIVIA	4,938	-1
3	JACK	6,844	-1	LILY	4,761	+1
4	ALFIE	5,524	–	JESSICA	3,984	+2
5	CHARLIE	5,516	–	EMILY	3,974	-2
6	THOMAS	5,353	–	SOPHIE	3,923	-4
7	JACOB	5,047	+5	RUBY	3,702	–
8	JAMES	4,945	+2	GRACE	3,691	+1
9	JOSHUA	4,786	-1	AVA	3,621	+2
10	WILLIAM	4,632	-3	ISABELLA	3,464	+2
11	ETHAN	4,581	+2	EVIE	3,385	-1
12	GEORGE	4,347	-3	CHLOE	3,347	-4
13	RILEY	4,226	+12	MIA	3,346	–
14	DANIEL	3,928	-3	POPPY	2,932	+2
15	SAMUEL	3,803	-1	ISLA	2,849	+7
16	NOAH	3,287	+2	ELLA	2,783	+2
17	OSCAR	3,251	+2	ISABELLE	2,719	–
18	JOSEPH	3,089	-3	SOPHIA	2,661	+9
19	MOHAMMED	3,054	-2	FREYA	2,619	–
20	MAX	3,043	+3	DAISY	2,458	-5
21	DYLAN	2,962	-5	CHARLOTTE	2,390	-1
22	MUHAMMAD	2,854	+9	MAISIE	2,230	-8
23	ALEXANDER	2,819	-2	LUCY	2,228	-2
24	ARCHIE	2,805	–	PHOEBE	2,008	+4
25	BENJAMIN	2,789	-3	SCARLETT	1,987	-1
26	LUCAS	2,716	-7	HOLLY	1,971	-1
27	LEO	2,664	+9	LILLY	1,950	+12
28	HENRY	2,625	+6	ELLIE	1,893	+1
29	JAKE	2,619	–	MEGAN	1,799	-6
30	LOGAN	2,549	-2	LAYLA	1,780	+14
31	TYLER	2,520	+1	LOLA	1,777	+2
32	JAYDEN	2,353	-6	IMOGEN	1,773	-6
33	ISAAC	2,352	+4	EVA	1,714	+4
34	FINLEY	2,245	+1	SUMMER	1,711	-4
35	MASON	2,171	+11	MILLIE	1,641	-3
36	RYAN	2,151	-6	SIENNA	1,585	+11
37	HARRISON	2,122	+5	ALICE	1,554	+6
38	ADAM	2,062	+1	ABIGAIL	1,493	-4
39	LEWIS	2,035	-12	ERIN	1,491	-4
40	EDWARD	1,935	+3	LACEY	1,475	-4
41	LUKE	1,830	-3	HANNAH	1,462	-10
42	FREDDIE	1,819	+3	JASMINE	1,429	-1
43	MATTHEW	1,743	-2	FLORENCE	1,406	+11
44	LIAM	1,690	-11	ELIZABETH	1,396	+5
45	ZACHARY	1,664	+6	LEXI	1,324	+1
46	CALLUM	1,580	-6	MOLLY	1,322	-4
47	SEBASTIAN	1,493	+11	SOFIA	1,249	+15
48	CONNOR	1,471	-4	MATILDA	1,225	+5
49	JAMIE	1,445	–	EMMA	1,221	-1
50	THEO	1,407	–	BROOKE	1,216	-5
51	TOBY	1,389	+3	AMY	1,213	-13
52	HARVEY	1,388	-5	AMBER	1,201	–
53	MICHAEL	1,364	–	GRACIE	1,162	-2
54	NATHAN	1,319	-6	AMELIE	1,128	+1
55	HARLEY	1,308	+2	ROSIE	1,124	+4
56	KAI	1,211	–	LEAH	1,120	-6
57	DAVID	1,163	+7	KATIE	1,105	-17
58	AARON	1,147	-3	MAYA	1,072	-1
59	ALEX	1,129	-7	ELEANOR	1,049	+2
60	CHARLES	1,090	+2	GEORGIA	1,022	-4
61	AIDEN	1,077	+5	EMILIA	1,007	+10
62	LEON	1,069	-2	ELIZA	955	+31
63	MOHAMMAD	1,037	+4	FAITH	914	+2
64	LUCA	982	+6	BETHANY	913	-5
65	TOMMY	980	+91*	EVELYN	871	+22
66	FINLAY	967	+2	ISABEL	857	-8
67	JENSON	966	+29	ANNA	827	-4
68	ARTHUR	961	+14	HOLLIE	825	+1
68	LOUIS	961	+1	BELLA	823	+35*
70	RHYS	946	-5	PAIGE	811	-7
71	OWEN	943	-12	HARRIET	809	+15
72	REUBEN	941	-1	ESME	797	+2
73	OLLIE	933	-10	ZARA	790	+3
74	LOUIE	887	–	LEXIE	788	-6
75	GABRIEL	874	+3	WILLOW	772	+37*
76	BOBBY	869	+7	ROSE	764	+14
77	CAMERON	848	-16	MADISON	760	-10
78	DEXTER	833	+20	JULIA	759	-1
79	BLAKE	831	+26*	ANNABELLE	758	+10
80	STANLEY	824	+8	ISOBEL	754	-5
81	KIAN	800	-9	NIAMH	733	-3
82	EVAN	770	-6	MADDISON	731	-1
83	JUDE	764	+3	MARTHA	723	+2
84	FRANKIE	756	+24*	SKYE	717	-11
85	ELLIOT	755	–	LAUREN	710	-15
86	HAYDEN	747	-6	CAITLIN	708	-20
87	ASHTON	727	-10	ELSIE	699	+21*
88	JOEL	712	-7	KEIRA	693	-16
89	CALEB	709	-2	REBECCA	693	-6
90	BAILEY	704	-11	SARAH	663	-7
91	ELIJAH	701	+29*	HEIDI	652	+2
92	TAYLOR	696	+5	ZOE	649	-8
93	ROBERT	694	-3	MARIA	628	-2
94	KAYDEN	686	+5	MARYAM	616	+5
95	KYLE	683	-21	AISHA	613	+1
96	FREDERICK	669	-1	TIA	613	-16
97	BEN	667	-24	NICOLE	605	-5
98	REECE	656	-14	KAYLA	604	+21*
99	JACKSON	647	+40*	FRANCESCA	602	+3*
100	JOHN	645	-6	LYDIA	589	+7*

Name Spot of the Week: Midwives&Large Broods

Promo pic for Call the Midwife, from guim.co.uk

Reading the Daily Mail is a sort of guilty pleasure pursuit of mine. It’s so much more entertaining when you don’t take them seriously. There have been some interesting name-related articles of late. Remember the Canadian genderless baby named Storm? Well, a British equivalent has recently come out of the woodwork, this time the mother admitting that 5-year-old Sasha is a boy.

They also mentioned X-Factor reject Charley Bird who mentioned the reasoning behind the name of her newborn son Beaux – apparently the x is a reference to X-Factor. Ever heard of reborn dolls? This lady has several, all with relatively oft-heard names: Ruby, Dylan, Daniel, Ellie, Joshua, Annabelle, Daniella, Max, Charlie, Amber and Maddie.

Speaking of large groups of children, Channel 4 aired episode 1 of 15 kids and Counting this week, featuring two super-sized families in the UK. The first is the Sullivans from Kent, who have 11 children: Ben, Stephanie, Caitlin, Harry, Eddie, Sid, Patrick, Oliver, Joseph, Anna and Elizabeth ‘Libby’.

The second is the Radfords from Morecambe, who have 15 children: Chris, Sophie, Chloe, Jack, Daniel, Luke, Millie, Katie, James, Ellie, Aimee, Josh, Max, Tilly May and Oscar. Their grandfather offered up suggestions of Barry, Cecil and Cyril for the name of his newest grandson.

Now, here’s an interesting conundrum a friend mentioned to me the other day: he’s unsure of how to pronounce Ava. It’s rather sweet, thinking about it, because he came across Ava for what seems like the first time when googling popular names, and then said ‘how do you say the name spelt A-V-A?’. To be honest, I too felt a slight uncertainty over whether to say ay-vah or ah-vah, initially.

To end, the BBC recently debuted a new show called Call the Midwife, set in 1950s Britain, thus many of the characters have delightfully era-related names, and some possibly not so:

• Jenny
• Julienne
• Evangelina
• Monica Joan
• Trixie (short for Beatrix, perhaps?)
• Cynthia
• Bernadette
• Fred
• Pearl
• Maureen
• Conchita
• Len
• Eddy
• Muriel

Name Spot of the Week: Game Show Blitz

Simmy (l) and James (r), from James May's Man Lab, from tinypic.com

I found myself humming Little April Shower from Bambi earlier on today, and that got me thinking: April or Avril? Or maybe even Aprella? There were four voice actors for Bambi in his film, of which the ones for baby, young and adolescent Bambi were called Bobby, Donnie and Hardie.

I’ve rediscovered the TV channel Challenge this week, and have been busy gobbling up up the classic game show reruns. Earlier on today I caught an episode of Family Fortunes featuring a family of elderly ladies named Joan, Dorothy, Enid, Margaret and Ella. To the modern eye, Ella looks almost out-of-place, but in fairness Ella was at #97 in 1904.

Classic Who Wants To Be A Millionaire threw up an Ingram – who went on to win the top prize. He has a son called Isaac ‘Zac’, whilst the player beforehand used his friend Olaf for Phone A Friend.

Million Pound Drop also restarted up again this week – huzzah! Akbar and Lynne won 25k, whilst Craig and Seve won 100k. Seve was half-spanish and he reminds me of the man called Simmy who turned up in James May’s Man Lab series from a few weeks ago. I can only speculate that Simmy is short for Simon. Back to Million Pound Drop and there was also a pair called Jono and Liam, and another pairing called Kenneth and Whitney who went out on their first question.

I’ve also started to get into this series of Masterchef: The Professionals, whilst includes a male named Perry – and another one named Ash. Speaking of Ash, 3-letter names rock, and I’m not just saying that because Lou fits this category. I’m also saying this because I couldn’t help but notice a buzz developing around these names of late, especially over at Elea’s little corner of the internet. They’re certainly more intriguing than Ann or Rob, and the collection mentioned over the past week by my peers is nothing short of fascinating:

Roa, from Eponymia’s post on Names From Jordan.

Zed and Ovo, from Bewitching Names’ post of Names From Cirque du Soleil

Ada and Azo from Baby Names From Yesteryear’s post on Lord Byron.

Bell, Pax, Paz, Eir, Joy, Gil, Lux, Luz, Ora, Ori, Uri, Nur and Xue from British Baby Names’ Advent Calendar series.

Icy and Ivy from Midwinter Names’ post on Wintery Names.

Ava and Jem from Waltzing More Than Matilda’s post on Names From Stories on Midwives

Asa and Roy from Names 4 Real’s most recent post of Birth Annoucements.

Zeb and Zef from Appellation Mountain’s post on Z- Names for Lads.

Dot from Nook of Names post on Rune Names.

Wim and Kit from Marginamia’s post on Names from The Glow.