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It may have been precisely two weeks ago now, but I don’t suppose you remember the opening ceremony for the games?
Apparently a lot of things went over the heads of the non-Brits, but a couple of things went over my head the first time I saw it too, but mainly because I was concentrating my attention on the wrong things. That and you couldn’t see things clearly from where I was sat (with the tree on my immediate left). Remember Voldemort? When I went to the rehearsal I didn’t even realise the billowy black figure was him until I saw the ceremony live on TV two days after. I even had decent pictures of him, and still managed to miss it.
Bah.
One of the other things I completely missed the first time around was the love–story intersecting the music section near the end. To me, it was just a medley of super-cool songs from my Dad’s vinyl collection.
I digress.
You probably know by now that the two characters were called Frankie and June, especially since the title of the sequence was Frankie and June say thanks Tim – with Tim referring to Sir Tim Berners-Lee, who turns up at the end of the sequence. The interesting thing to note was that he wasn’t at the rehearsal so the house just lifted up to an empty space underneath.
Snapped by me at the rehearsal
Frankie is an interesting name and possibly chosen as a nod to band Frankie Goes To Hollywood, especially given that when the character is asked his name, he reveals his shirt saying Frankie Says Relax, and Relax by Frankie Goes To Hollywood begins to play.
Frankie ranks at #108 in England&Wales for 2010 (yes, still using the 2010 data, but our 2011 is due out on Monday. Squee!), and ranks at #191 for girls.
The character of Frankie was played by a lad named Henrique Costa, a name with a completely different feel to Frankie; 9 lads were given the name in 2010, giving the name a ranking of #2199.
However, the name is not the French form of Henry (that’s Henri), but the Portuguese version and there are plenty of noted uses for the name by the Portuguese royal family, which was deposed in 1910 following the revolution.
Then we have the girl, and her name was inspired by the lead female in the film A Matter of Loaf and Death.
June is what one may call an old-fashioned name currently riding the popularity wave in some circles.
Despite this, only 4 girls were given the name in 2010, giving the name a ranking of #4688. That’s really low! She ranked at #9 in 1934, oh, how the mighty have fallen.
One could blame her sister-names, Juno and Juniper for stealing the limelight off her, but, neither of them are faring much better really. Juno is at #1093, and Juniper is at #3533, with 6 girls given the name.
The actress playing June was called Jasmine Brienburg, and her name is wayyy more popular at #41. Jasmine is 18, so was likely born in 1993 or 1994, and in the latter year her name ranked at #54, so this name has really had some staying power over the last two decades here in England&Wales.
So, what you have with the character’s names is a pairing of old (June), with an emerging new favourite (Frankie). Then with the actors names you have a European royal pick (Henrique), paired with a Top 100 cutie (Jasmine).
All great names, and not ones you see together so often.
Mer de Noms 