Weekend Post: Mumsnet

Just a pretty French fountain

Ever heard of Mumsnet? Some call it one of the most influential sites here in the UK – the politicians were all clambering over each other in a race to interact with the mums there.

Well, the other day I stumbled across a topic with one mum asking what’s the most unusual name you love? Here are their answers, most of which are given with meaning, unless they’re a word name or I simply don’t know:

Airi – beloved jasmine (Japanese)

Andromeda – to think of a man (Greek)

Aria – song, melody, air (Italian)

Bear

Bellatrix – female warrior (Latin)

Blythe – happy (Old English)

Boycie – wood (Old French)

Calypso – she that conceals (Greek)

Ciar – black (Irish)

Clemency – mercy (English)

Clothilda – famed battle (Germanic)

Clover

Cyrus – far-sighted, young (Greek)

Darwin – dear friend (Old English)

Decca – ten (Latin)

Desdemona – ill-fated (Greek)

Echo

Eppie – diminuative of either Hepzhibah or Euphemia

Grayling

Heathcliff

Hebe – youth (Greek)

Hepzhibah – my delight is in her (Hebrew)

Hermia – feminine form of Hermes

Hope

Icabod – no glory (Hebrew)

Iolanthe – violet (Greek)

Isis – throne (Egyptian, possibly)

Kit – short for Katherine or Christopher

Lena nn Lenny

Lolita – nickname for Delores

Lysander – release of a man (Greek)

Maybre

Mercy

Misha – Russian diminuative of Mikhail

Mneme – memory (Greek)

Novello

Patience

Pepper

Perdita – lost (Latin)

Perserverence

Pier – Dutch form of Peter

Posy – nickname for Josephine

Ptolemy – warlike (Greek)

Quesnell

Ramsey – wild garlic island (Old English)

Saul – asked for (Hebrew)

Scarlett

Shepherd

Struan – stream (Gaelic)

Tikvah – hope (Hebrew)

Torren – chief (Irish Gaelic)

Vita – life (Latin)

Wolfgang – wolf path (Germanic)

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!