The Top 100 Analysis

The Rising Names

 

New Entrants to the Top 10

There was only one new entrant to the Top 10 for the girls  this year, with Poppy racing up 6 places to #7, replacing the once-darling of the flower world: Lily, who falls to #12.

As for the boys, Oscar races into the Top 10 to sit at #7, whilst George sneaks back in at #10. They replace Alfie and Riley.

New Entrants to the Top 100

On the boys side there was the most amount of movement into and out of the Top 100. In all, 6 names are new on the boys side:

• Teddy (now #86, up from #141, that’s a massive leap of 55 places)
• Ibrahim (now #89, up from #107)
• Ronnie (now #90, up from #105)
• Felix (now #91, up from #114)
• Austin (now #94, up from 108)
• Albert (now #99, up from #109, which has made me very happy)

As for the girls, there were only 3 new entrants:

• Victoria (now #88, up from #106)
• Darcy (now #93, up from #107)
• Beatrice (now #95, up from #114)

Big Jumps in the Top 100

With Teddy doing so well this year, it may not surprise you to hear that Theodore also made big leaps within the Top 100 after his first entrance last year at #97, jumping up about 20 places to #78. Other big rises for the boys are: Hugo; Reuben; Elijah; Oscar; and Blake, who all rose at least 10 places.

As for the girls, the highest rising name within the Top 100 was Elsie (for the second year rising) who rose about 20 places, also, to break the 50 mark at #47. Elsie first joined the Top 100 in 2011. Nature names fared well in the Top 100, with Willow (15 places), Violet, and Ivy (both 22 places, respectively) also being high risers.

The Falling Names

 

Exiters of the Top 100

And the names they’ve replaced are:

• Rhys (#101)
• Ellis (#103)
• Kayden (#104)
• Bailey (#113)
• Taylor (#118)
• Kyle (#120)

For the girls, this year Sara and Lydia shared the Top 100 spot, thus only two names fell out:

• Caitlin (#114)
• Keira (#110)

Big Falls in the Top 100

It may not surprise the British public to hear Cameron was one of the biggest fallers in 2013, falling 16 places to #93; at this rate, he may drop out altogether for the 2014 list. Other names falling far within the Top 100 are Callum, Liam, Tyler and Riley, all falling at least 10 places each.

For the girls, the big fallers were: Hollie (down 21 places to #75); Paige (down 18 places to #98); Madison (down 17 places to #92); and Amy (down 14 places to #76).

5 Names With Potential To Join The Top 100

The 2013 data for England&Wales is due out on the 15th August, thus, I’ve been looking at the potential contenders for the Top 100. All these names are lurking just behind the 100 mark and most have experienced rapid rises in popularity in recent years, and we”l find out on Friday whether any have made it into the Top 100.

1. Seren

She has consistently ranking in the solo Welsh Top 100 for many years now (at #7 in 2012), and on the joint list she’s at #104 (rising from #127 in 2011). That means she could continue right into the Top 100 for the joint England&Wales list, for which she’ll be a most welcome addition. Seren means star in Welsh.

2. Olly

As Oliver has been a Top 10 mainstay for awhile now it seems only logical that the nation who loves nicknames would eventually come to use Olly in the masses. He’s been rapidly rising for the past 5 years and ranked at #122 in 2011, then #106 in 2012.

3. Alexis, g

For the past two years, Alexis has ranked at #101, meaning that she has just missed out for two years running now. All it takes is one last spur and she’ll finally crack the Top 100. The name Alexis is of Greek origins and means defender.

4. Ronnie

First derived as a nickname for the out-of-fashion Ronald (still, despite the Harry Potter exposure), the name Ronnie in the UK appears to be shaking off the Kray twins association (Ronnie and Reggie Kray were criminal gangsters in the East of London in the 1950s/1960s). He rose from #142 to #105 between 2011 and 2012.

5. Lottie

She jumped from #138 to #112 between 2011 and 2012. Lottie is a short form of Charlotte (#20), who is slowly slipping down the rankings (down from #5 in 2000), and she fits with the nickname-love trend that’s been ongoing for several years now.

 

Aside form the above five names, other names to watch for are Darcy / Darcie (#107/#122, respectively. Sister Darcey joined the Top 100 last year), Iris (#122), Annabel (#109), Albert (#109, I would be thrilled if this hits the Top 100), Jasper (#129),  and Felix (#114).

Sibset of the Week: The Durrs

from hello magazine

Sometimes, the Daily Mail has its uses. I would never have considered covering this family in this feature had I not caught sight of an article about them only today. The process of selecting families in which to feature isn’t a particularly scientific one: British families are preferable, although it’s fun to occasionally cover families from other parts of the world, and I do try to enforce a bit of bias into families with more notable or even wacky names. Usually, I simply stumble across the family whilst googling a multitude of things in order to achieve a lifetime’s dream of knowing more pub quiz answers than my Grandfather – a pursuit which has become increasingly more difficult now that he writes them.

Jason Durr is an actor, best known for his role in Heartbeat. The last time I saw him on the little screen was when I watched Midsomer Murders ’round at my Grandma’s home, when he played a character named Luke Archbold. Even typing the name wants me to say it à la Archibald, a name I’m slowing starting to nurse a liking for.

He has three children, the youngest two being twins:

Blossom

Velvet

Felix

My sister went to primary school with a girl named Blossom, whilst she was also my least favourite member of The Powerpuff Girls. However, the name itself isn’t stylistically different to Daisy or Poppy, and both of those names are in the Top 100. Jamie Oliver has, naturally, used all three names – one for each daughter (Blossom is one of Petal’s middle names). And as for Velvet…woah! At first I wondered as to whether her name was actually Violet and it has been mistranscribed or something, but it appears to be the case that she is infact called Velvet.

Sibset of the Week: The Hicks

David Nightingale Hicks, from npgprints.com

We’re looking at two generations of a family this week, because they all bear such facinating names. David Nightingale Hicks was a reknowned interior designer, who married Lady Pamela Mountbatten in 1960, and together they had three children:

Edwina Victoria Louise

Ashley Louis David

India Amanda Caroline

Then we come to the second generation, and let’s start with the eldest daughter, Edwina, who married her husband Jeremy in 1984 and together they have three offspring:

Maddison May (1994)

Jordan Anne (1995)

Rowan Michael (2001)

One can perhaps note the classics-in-the-middle, more modern choices in the front style they seem to have adopted for their names. Also, the relative gender-neutral-ness of the names – especially with the younger two children. I actual think this sibset may even be a few years before it’s time, as those kids could easily have been born in the last few years, rather than 10 to 20 years ago.

Edwina’s brother, Ashley, has worked as an author, designer and architect in his time. In 1990 he married an Italian designer named Allegra, with whom he welcomed two daughters:

Angelica Margherita Edwina

Ambrosia Maria Elizabeth

Note the matching initials, and that Ashley only named one of his daughters after one of his sisters.

Speaking of one of his sisters, we then come to India, who was a bridesmaid at the marriage of Prince Charles and Diana Spencer. India has four children with her partner, the interior designer David Flint Wood:

Felix Austen

Amory John

Conrad Lorenzo

Domino Carmen

Whilst I’ve seen both Felix and Conrad on people before, I don’t think I’ve ever seen someone call their child either Amory or Carmen before – they’re certainly bold choices.

Santa Special

Santa Train, via flickr

I’ve spent all weekend handing out presents to excitable small children, and what has to be the biggest pack of Brownies I’ve ever come across in my life. This all adds up to the need for an extra special post to give me a chance to share with you as many names as my poor mind can remember.

That said, this post does comes with the warning that, whilst I know their rough ages due for present-selecting purposes, I can only hazard a guess at the spellings of their names. This is by no means a complete list, rather, a collection of the ones I remembered, and for the sake of simplicity, yes there were many multiples of many of these names, but I’ve forgone this since I can’t give exact numbers on how frequent each names was used, but, the ones I saw time and time again?

• Alfie
• Ben
• Hayden
• Henry
• Lucy
• Isabella
• Joshua
• Ruby

Before unleashing the lists on you, it is worth noting that the children could’ve easily been introducing themselves by their nickname, not their fullname.

Babies

Alfie	James	Olly
Eloise	Nina	Polly
Evie	Meggie	Ruby
Isabella	Maggie	Susanna

1-2

Ace	Cameron	George	Lucy
Aiden	Casper	Hannah	Maisie
Alfie	Charlie	Harry	Nancy
Amy	Che	Henry	Niamh
Archie	Chelsea	Holly	Phoebe
Baxter	Debbie	Isabella	Sally
Bea	Ebony	Isla	Sally
Bella	Eddy	Jack	Sean
Ben	Edward	Jenny	Stanley
Billy	Effie	Liam	Teddy
Bobby	Evan	Lila	Thisbe
Callum	Evie	Lola	William

3-5

Abby	Esther	Jason	Oliver
Abigail	Ethan	Joel	Olivia
Alfie	Eve	Jordan	Olly
Alice	Ewan	Joshua	Oscar
Amelia	Faith	Kian	Owen
Ben	Felix	Lenny	Penny
Bess	Fergus	Leon	Poppy
Betty	Gabby	Lily	Poppy
Bruno	Gabriella	Lola	Ralphie
Cameron	George	Lolly	Riley (m)
Cleo	Hamish	Lucy	Rosie
Coco	Hannah	Luke	Samuel
Daniel	Imogen	Maggie	Summer
Darcy	Isabella	Martha	Summer
Eleanor	Isla	Molly	Tammy
Elise	Jack	Niamh	Tommy
Emily	James	Nora	William

6-8

Alex	Freddie	Joshua	Reuben
Archie	Georgia	Kai	Sam
Ben	Geraldine	Kiefer	Scarlett
Cameron	Greta	Leo	Sophie
Charlie	Hannah	Lexie	Stacy
Charlotte	Harriet	Libby	Summer
Chloe	Hayden	Lily	Teddy
Connor	Isabella	Lucy	Theo
Delphine	Jessica	Margaret	Thomas
Eliza	Jessie	Molly	Verity
Elliott	Jimmy	Noah	Victoria
Elliott	Jimmy	Owen	Wendy
Emily	Joe	Perry	Willa
Erin	Jools	Petra	William
George	Joseph	Rebecca	Zeke

9-10

Bea	Jack	Molly
Becky	Jake	Sarah
Ben	Jessica	Stanley
Erin	Matthew	Thomas
Felicia	Noah	William

10+

Charlotte	Joel	Charlotte
Emily	Joshua	Quinn
Emmy	Matthew	Rowan
Frank	Melody	Winnie
Hattie	Niall	Zach
James	Noor

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.

Weekend Post: So Lucky

Moldova's 2011 Eurovisoin Entry - So Lucky byZdob&Zdub, with accompanying trumpet playing fairy on unicycle.

Greetings friends, my Saturday evening was filled with the joy that is Eurovision, did my fellow continent dwellers enjoy it? I voted for Moldova, since it was in the true spirit of Eurovision, and it appears my fellow Brits agreed, since we awarded them 8 points, at which point our commentator, Graham Norton, told us off for not taking it seriously…and then we gave our 12 to Jedward of Ireland. As for the winners, twas’ Azerbaijan – a country in Asia.

But let’s get onto the point ofour post. The title of the Moldova song was So Lucky, and that got me thinking, what are some names which mean lucky?

Azgad

Bahati

Dalia

Felicty/ Felicitas

Felix

Fortuna

Ganesha

Veasna

Zelda

Symbols of Luck:

Acorn

Clover

Cricket

Jade

Scarab (beetle)

Seven

Star 

Japanese Mythology have the Seven Lucky Gods:

1. Hotei
2. Jurojin
3. Fukurokuju
4. Bishamonten
5. Benzaiten
6. Daikokuten
7. Ebisu