Birdy

Birdy, from amazonaws.com

I very rarely plan posts for the week ahead, usually just making things up as I go along but I am starting to notice that despite this it seems I always have a theme running through what I post each week. Last week it was name trends, and this week it appears to be music. Last night rumours were raging that band of my youth S Club 7 have decided to reform as a result of the other band of my youth Steps successfully having a comeback this year. The good people of Twitter are now demanding Bustedreform to complete the set, but we’ve yet to get that announcement.

What I really want to talk about, however, is an emerging talent: Birdy. I mentioned her very briefly a few weeks ago when I spied her on the news, but I’ve started to hear murmurings about her amongst my peers which has me wondering whether this fledgling muscian will be dominating the charts in the coming years. To put this into context, I was hearing the very same people murmur about the likes of Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj weeks before either of them started their assault on our ears.

It seems the future is bright for young Birdy  – but it was too much to expect Birdy is her real name; it’s actually Jasmine, who is two months older than one of my sisters, making me feel rather old. That said, the age gap is about the same between myself and the aformentioned Bieber.

Kristen recently held a bird week over at her blog, Marginamia, which included a superb guest post over at Namberry, and Elea has also got in on the act to talk about bird names. As for me, I’ve only gone so far as to talk about the potential of using Birdie as a nickname for Beatrice/Beatrix.

The One Show comes right after the news on BBC1 here in the UK and is a rather magazine-news style of show. They recently had a segment on golf, in which a Birdie is one stroke under par. I’m a pro at seaside mini puts/adventure golf/crazy golfs – so if you ever need advice on where to go, feel free to ask. I lost a ball in a waterfall at the pirate one in Great Yarmouth in the Summer, whilst the pirate golf at Blackpool is mostly in the dark.

Going back to the world of babies, no golfer I can think of has yet to name their son or daughter Birdie, but two actresses have: Elizabeth ‘Busy’ Philipps has a daughter named Birdie, as does Maura West.  Only 3 girls were named Birdie in 2010, so the name has yet to really take off here in the UK, which is fine if you’re looking for a name no one is using but everyone will recognise.

What you shouldn’t do is get the name muddled up with Bridie – which I’ll admit to doing frequently. There’s a lady who occasionally writes for the Daily Mail with three daughters: Bronte, Merrily and Bridie. The name Bridie derives from Bridget, and 20 of them were born in 2010, making her slightly more popular than Birdie although really both names remain obscure.

So, Birdy. Birdie. We know from yesterday that names such as Adele and Leona have benefited from a famous bearer, but will Birdy go the same way? The sticking point is that Adele and Leona were already enjoying relative usage before each respective singer stepped into the spotlight – but Jenson was nowhere to be seen before the driver made his F1 début, and he’s now inside the Top 100. So you could be seeing little Birdy’s in the future, but you easily may not be in that position.

Name Spot of the Week: The Fool Strikes Again

Contestant from Junior Bake Off, Stanley, from eadt.co.uk

You’d think I’d be a pro at this blogging malarkey nowadays, but I somehow managed to leave for work last night without clicking the publish button. Since I didn’t actually get back until past midnight, I decided to be lazy and go to bed rather than provide you with your daily fix. Patience is a virtue, as my father would always annoying remind me, so hopefully I still have some readers out there 😉

Either way, onto the post. I caught another glimpse of Junior Bake Off this week, the kid-orientated version of BBC’s smash hit The Great British Bake Off. The one I watched a few minutes of the other day featured four young ‘uns named Jacob, Katie, Conal and Coco-Nina. Some other notable names from the series include:

Aasiya

Amari (m)

Galway

Hari

Joy

Kai

Marie

Saffron

Sangita

Stanley

Sylvia

Zyta

Speaking of television, there was a girl named Charis this week on Pointless who pronounced the first syllable of her name like one would say the first syllable of Karen. There was also a Lauren and Lauren III pairing who were both male, which reminds me that Laurence is a female name in France. On the subject of the French, Bree stole my heart with her list of French word names earlier on this week.

It’s slightly late, but Kate Silverton welcomed a daughter she named Clemency Florence Rose recently. David Cameron famously welcomed Florence Rose Endellion earlier last year, so Florence Rose is clearly a combination to keep an eye on. I’m still not entirely sure which name I prefer out of the two, given that I love both. There are plenty of -ce names out there right now, such as Alice and Beatrice, which are enjoying plenty of popularity.

My favourite outraged Daily Mail article of late has been about a couple’s messy divorce. A couple with four daughters named Arabella, Kitty, Lucy and Georgia. They also have a son with the delightfully complicated Ruaraidh.

11/11/11 UPDATE

There’s a girl on the news called Birdy. How apt given ‘yesterdays’ post!