Pineapple Summer

I’ve been busy researching and writing some more serious posts, but today I’m bringing you something a little more light-hearted.

Summer ’17 was declared a Pineapple Summer – not just because pineapple motifs were suddenly everywhere. In my world, it all started with this video.

Pineapple Summer was officially declared over last month, so I thought we’d round up some names associated with the delicious fruit.

The below are all inspired by the names of different cultivars:

Alexandra

Ceylon (Red Ceylon)

Charlotte (Charlotte Rothschild)

Esmeralda

Hilo

James (James Queen)

Josapine

Kona (Kona Sugarloaf)

Lisa (Cayena Lisa)

MacGregor

Marta (Santa Marta)

Maspine

Michael (St. Michael)

Ripley (Ripley Queen)

Victoria

 

A fun bunch of the more familiar names, and the less well-known. Any favourites?

Nicknames for Charlotte

Charlotte

The Usual Suspects

Char

Charlie

Lottie

The Short ‘n’ Sweets

Arla/Arlo

Cat

Cate

Chay (Shay)

Coco

Kay

Lola

Lotta/Lotte

Tee/Tea

The Sweeties

Arlie

Callie

Carly

Carey

Carrie

Harley

Kitty

Ottie

Tottie

The Longer-Than-The-Name Ones

Charlemagne (a friend of mine answers to this nickname)

Ottilie

Sibset of the Week: The Brosnans

I’ve been working my way through the old James Bond films quite a bit recently with a friend of mine, and one of our most recently watched films is The World is Not Enough, where James Bond is played by Irish actor Pierce Brosnan.

My friend happens to be quite the Pierce Brosnan fan, so this post goes out to him.

Pierce has been married twice: firstly to Cassandra Harris; secondly to Keely Shaye Smith. Altogether he has 2 stepchildren* and 3 sons:

*Christopher

*Charlotte

Sean William

Dylan Thomas

Paris Beckett

Perhaps you can pick out why I chose to cover this family (aside from pandering to a friend’s likes).

Sibset of the Week: The Apatows and the Goldsmiths

Zac Goldsmith, from lidf.co.uk

My sister hates Zac Efron with a passion, so it was a surprise to catch her watching 17 again on her laptop earlier on this week. I have this habit of looking up any film I come into contact with, and thus pulled up the wiki page for 17 again. After flicking through several tie in pages I stumbled upon the wiki page of Leslie Mann, who played Scarlett O’Donnell in the film.

She looked oddly familiar, and a look at her filmography revealed why: she played Ursula in George of the Jungle. Fun fact: George of the Jungle was the first film I saw at the cinema, so I’ve always had a soft spot for it.

With her husband, Judd Apatow, she has two daughters, born in the late 1990s, early 2000s:

Maude

Iris

The second family this week has absolutely nothing to do with Leslie Mann whatsoever. Infact, truth be told, I’m trying to clear out my draft folder, in which this particular family has resided now for far too long.

Zac Goldsmith is a member of the Conservative Party, and currently represents the Richmond Park constituency in the House of Commons (i.e. he’s a politician). His father, Sir James Goldsmith, was quite the character and it’s worth mentioning the names of his children before we get onto Zac’s:

Isabel, 1954, mother: Maria Isabel Patiño

Manes, m, mother Ginette Lery

Alix, mother: Ginette Lery (children: Gaia and Lea)

Jemima Marcelle (aka Jemima Khan), 1974, mother: Lady Annabel (children: Sulaiman Isa and Kasim)

Frank Zacharias Robin, 1975, mother: Lady Annabel

Benjamin James, 1980, mother: Lady Annabel (children: Iris Annabel, Frank James Amschel and Isaac Benjamin Victor)

Jethro, mother: Laure Boulay de la Meurthe

Charlotte, mother: Laure Boulay de la Meurthe

As for Zac Goldsmith himself, with his ex-wife Sheherazade Ventura-Bentley, he had three children:

Uma Romanie

Thyra Amber

James

Disney

Princess Merida, from inquisitr.com

Ariel and Jasmine are the classic examples of names which can both attribute some of their popularity to a Disney film. Logically speaking, therefore, upcoming Disney films could feature future starlets of the name world.

And the most recent release of Tangled has shown just that – the male lead character was called Flynn. Well, nicknamed Flynn for Eugene. At the same time, the Disney Channel Original Series Good Luck Charlie is about to welcome child no.5. The names of the currently four of them are:

• ‘PJ’
• ‘Teddie’
• Gabriel ‘Gabe’
• Charlotte ‘Charlie’

Teddie is female, and I’m fairly certain it’s short for something; I haven’t the foggiest what, though. As for the name of no.5, if I’m honest, none of the names on the poll really stood out for me when I went to cast my vote, but here are the ones in contention:

• Sydney
• Erika
• Mallory
• Talia
• Jenny
• Noah
• Jonah
• Bobby Jr.
• Bo

Wreck-it Ralph is due to be released in November 2012, featuring the eponymous character and there’s a fellow character called Fix-It Felix. Ralph and Felix? Both names I’m hearing more and more often, so Disney could be bang on here. For England&Wales in 2010, the names ranked at:

• Ralph – #258 (2009 ranking: #294)
• Felix – #122 (2009 ranking: #122)

Ralph comes from Old Norse roots, and means wolf counsel, whilst Felix is well-known for meaning lucky in Latin.

Moving closer to now we get to The Secret World of Arrietty is yet another take on the classic tale of The Borrowers. It was actually released in Japan in 2010, but is due to be released by Disney in the US at the start of 2012. Other members of the Clock family include Pod, Homily and Peagreen. According to the Disney page, it’s AIR-ee-ett-ee, and one could presume that neatly side-steps the issue Harriet and Harry seem to suffer in the States – that being people pronouncing it as they do hairy. One set of parents from 16 and Pregnant have recently welcomed child no. 2, a daughter: Arri.

As much as I loved The Borrowers when I was a kid, the film I’m really looking forward to? Brave. The lead character is to be a redhead, so it can only do wonders for my kind. I did initially believe that the lead female was called Brave, but alas, she’s actually called Merida. Sounds rather mythical, but the film really gets down to choosing whimsical Scottish-esque names when it comes to most of the other already-announced characters:

• Fergus
• Elinor
• Angus
• Harris
• Hubert
• Hamish

I tip my hat to ye Disney. All perfectly wonderful names. But something we should not forget is that Disney don’t just make films for theatrical release, they make plenty for their TV channels, which remain full of inspiration. Frenemies is due to be aired in January 2012,  names from which includes:

• Avalon
• Halley
• Kendall
• Cherie

Both Geek Charming and Lemonade Mouth have already been released this year, so aren’t upcoming releases per se, but there are some names featured in them which are worth a mention; from the film Geek Charming:

• Dylan (female)
• Asher
• Lola
• Ari (male)

Ari, Arri and Arrietty in one post from three different sources? It’s certainly not a trend I’d have intended to mention. I guess it makes sense, for me, given the immense popularity of similar sounding Harry and Harriet here in England&Wales – both are Top 100. I guess this is yet another potential trend for me to keep an eye on.

And some names from Lemonade Mouth (which has an upcoming sequel):

• Wendell ‘Wen’ (male)
• Mohini ‘Mo’ (female)

To be honest, if I’d seen only the nicknames and had been told one was male and the other female, I’d have guessed the opposite to what they actually are. Does that qualify Wen and Mo for our Girlish Nicknames on Boys post? It probably does.

As a final thought, the Disney Channel Original Series, Shake It Up, has an upcoming film in the works, thus the names of it’s characters qualify for this post:

• Cecelia ‘Cece’
• Raquel ‘Rocky’
• Flynn (brother of Cece)
• Ty (brother of Rocky)
• Tinka

All very modern-mama sounding names, and it’s yet another mention of Flynn. Something that has to be said, though, is that Flynn fell between 2009 and 2010: from #216 to #289. It will be interesting to see next year’s list to see where he’s heading next.

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.