Royal Name Speculation

Normally I try to avoid putting out similar posts to ones already circulating in the blogosphere, but since nameberry so nicely asked me for an opinion over on twitter, I figured I might as well chip in to the discussion.

My gut feeling is that George is the top choice for a boy, and indeed Georgina is a worthy of an outside chance for a girl.

Why?

It’s quite simply really: there are only really three living royals who have any likelihood of ascending to the throne: Prince Charles, Prince William and Prince Harry. Of those three, only Prince Charles wears the name George, and only as his third middle name.

That said, the has been speculation before that Prince Charles may take George as his regnal name upon his ascension the the throne, i.e. he becomes George VII, not Charles III. The big reason for this lies along the lines of the previous two sovereigns to bear the name Charles both have questionable legacies (one was a playboy, the other was beheaded).

It’s certainly not an uncommon practice, as whilst our current monarch reigns by her first name, her predecessor and father reigned as George VI, but he was born Albert Frederick Arthur George. Good ol’ Queen Victoria reigned by her middle name, as her first name was Alexandrina.

Other choices for boys are a little less intuitive, given that many clear favourites such as James, Edward and Charles are currently ‘assigned’ so to speak to another prince-ly member of the family (for those wondering, whilst strictly speaking there exists a Prince James, his parents choose to style him as Viscount Severn).

I don’t particularly believe that the Duke&Duchess of Cambridge will choose a first name already in use by another male styled a Prince, not least because of the potential confusion, so this automatically rules several names out of the running for first name status: Philip; Charles; Edward; Henry; James; Andrew; and Michael.

These names are all, however, still just as likely to be used for middle names. It’s worth noting that Michael is the name of the Duchess’ father, and thus despite Michael seeing rare use by the royals, this fact really rather increases the likelihood of Michael’s inclusion.

The glaringly obvious name left over to pick from is Arthur, and this is one of William’s middle names and indeed Prince Charles’ middle name, too. Of course, Prince William could kick off a new family naming trend and give his eldest son the middle name Arthur, too.

Another option is Frederick, also popularly used by royals in the last century or too. Then there’s also the possibility of Alexander, too.

When it comes to the choices for girls, Elizabeth is a clear middle name contender (and there is the chance of her use as a first name, too), being of course the name of our current monarch and the Duchess’ middle name. The variation of Eliza is unlikely for the simple reason that Prince William has a niece via his step-sister Laura Lopes with the name Eliza. Our current Queen was known as Lilibet when she was younger, so one could even speculate about the name Lily being used as a nod to her (although it makes more sense for them to simply use Elizabeth instead). The names Mary and Alexandra are also undeniably in the running, given that both are the Queen’s middle names.

The name Victoria would be a good call as a first name contender, given that currently Princess Eugenie is the only senior royal to bear the name as one of her middles.

Another name I have a gut feeling is in the running is Alice, the name of Prince Philip’s mother. I’m calling this because the name Andrew wasn’t an oft-used royal name in centuries gone by, but ‘lo and behold it was the name of Prince Philip’s father, and now also that of his second eldest son.

A name I’ve yet to see given mention is Margaret, who stands a good chance of being used in the middle name spot as a nod to the late Princess Margaret, younger sister of our current Queen. Her middle name, Rose, is another middle name possibility, albeit more likely for subsequent daughters.

Then we have both Diana and indeed Frances: the name of Prince William’s mother and her middle name. In the eyes of some, Diana is almost a certainty as a middle name should the child be female. It’s also worth noting that the Duchess’ father has Francis as a middle name, creating a greater possibility of the couple’s eventual use of either Frances or Francis.

Sophia is a currently popular name with historical use as a royal name, but she’s not seen much use of late, however, in order to be eligible for the line of succession, you must be a legitimate descendant of Electress Sophia of Hanover.

There’s an outside chance for both Harriet and Henrietta as potential nods to Prince William’s younger brother, Prince Harry. 

Final acknowledgements to other names with an outside chance of use goes to several names from the Duchess’ family, which include: Philippa, Charlotte and Carole/Caroline. Then there are a few more royal picks: Marie; Maud; Adelaide; Helena; Louisa.

What’s for certain is that this is an extensive list of names, and at the end of the day many of these names mentioned above are more likely to be in the running for subsequent children, rather than for a child that will one day most likely ascend to the throne.

Thus, I suggest the three most likely names to be used for each gender:

BOY: George, Charles and Michael

GIRL: Elizabeth, Diana and Alice

Every Tom, Dick and Harry

I had a friend tell me the other day that his father planned on registering his brother as Thomas Richard Harold so that he’d be every Tom, Dick and Harry. Apparently the lady in the registry office didn’t find this amusing and put a stop to it. Whether that’s true or not remains to be proved, but it gives me a chance to talk about alternative names.

Aside from Thomas, an alternative way to get to Tom could be Bartholomew.

Bartholomew is the full name of Bart Simpson, but don’t let that put you off the name. Bartholomew is a Hebrew name meaning son of Talmai. The name Talmai means abounding in furrows. Another famed bearer aside form the cartoon character is St. Bartolomew who was one of Jesus’ apostles – but he wasn’t strictly called Bartholomew, he was infact a Nathaniel.

As for Dick, I’m thinking about the slightly more familiar name of Frederick. He’s the English form of the Old German name Frithuric, which means peace and is another name brought to England by the Normans. Nowadays though, the French tend to spell this name sans the final k as Frederic (accent optional). There have been nine King of Denmark called Frederick, which is a pretty impressive tally. However, I would voice concern over using Dick as a nickname in this day and age.

I had plenty of ideas for Harry, but we’re going less-oft heard with Harrier. I was considering talking about Harper, but since we’ve previously mentioned the name of the blog, the name we’re looking at instead is Harrier. It’s the name of a bird of prey, and the name itself derives from Middle English. There are two distincts types of Harriers: the marsh harrier and the hen harrier. Perhaps a better known link for people is the British military aircraft called a Harrier Jump Jet which was named after the bird. Whilst I think Spitfire is a push, I find myself thinking about why I’ve never considered the name Harrier before. Granted, the name is pretty similar in sound to Harriet – the feminine form of Henry.

Name Spot of the Week: Vinnie, Fenton and Aneurin

I don’t really watch much television, but quite a few media-bound names came up this week. For starters, The British Heart Foundation recently launched a hands-free CPR campaign featuring tough-guy Vinnie Jones. Although it’s only been launched quite recently I’ve already seen this advert pop up several times since the beginning of the month. Whilst questions have been raised as to whether hands-free CPR really is more effective than the ‘normal’ type of CPR, I can see why eliminating the mouth-to-mouth element may make people more confident to really go for it – since the advert campaign is really more aimed at average Joe than Theodorus the trained First-Aid expert. Now, I have mentioned Vinnie once before on the blog – he came in at #10 on our 10 Alternatives for Alfie post way back in July last year. I stand by the judgement I made then – Vinnie is a great name.

Aside from that, another video that came to mind again this week was the Richmond Park video, after Rowan mentioned Fenton in her post on Names from the 1980s. The viral video is where I first came across the name, and Zeffy subsequently covered the name. As did Have I Got News For You, which reported the dog’s name as Benton, rather than Fenton. I’ll be honest, this name has seriously grown on me of late – despite my general uninterest in surnames-as-firstnames à la Hudson, Tucker and Cooper.

I caught some of the BBC4 dramatisation We’ll Take Manhattan last night. Well, I say caught, someone else was watching it and I caught bits of it from the corner of my eye.  It’s probably the first time I’ve watched BBC4 since catching a documentary about Snow on it last year and the really notable thing to mention is that David Bailey was played by Welsh actor Aneurin Barnard. Prior to him, the only man I could think of with his name is Aneurin ‘Nye’ Bevan – the man behind the creation of the NHS – Bevan was born in Wales as well. I’ve also read somewhere that he had a son named Aneurin, too.

Bailey also reminds me of a memorable incident which occured this week when I was in the park. A lady shouted the name Bailey at the top of her voice, and a little boy charged towards her. To be honest, I shouldn’t have been surprised – the name Bailey is #79 for boys in England&Wales compared to #505 for girls. I’m putting it down to the American blog I frequent on a daily basis 😉

Another thing to note is that Karen Gillan who plays Jean is in her early 20s. She’s better known as playing Amy Pond in Doctor Who.

I guess the final name to mention is that only today I was involved in a pub-quiz style competition. The name of my team as chosen by a friend? Frederick. We have a track record of using random names as team names in quiz situations. Previous names used include Boo, Baxter and Ginger.

Show Your Spots: Bear Names

Revamped 2007 onwards Pudsey Bear, from bbc.co.uk

Pudsey Bear has taken over BBC1 for the night, and that means no Have I Got News For You my weekly highlight. Many people have been going around all day wearing year bear ears and potentially even wearing spotty clothing as my sister’s school did. I don’t think the people of Britain go as crazy in dressing-up as they do for the biannual Red Nose Day appeal.

The name Pudsey is a fascinating one. There is a town named Pudsey in West Yorkshire, and this is where Pudsey Bear got his name. Pudsey is also well-known for its wool manufacture, and, from the 19th century, Cricket. Many England cricketeers, such as Sir Len Hutton, Matthew Hoggard and Herbert Sutcliffe all learned to play cricket in Pudsey. Sadly, Pudsey is also known for being one of the most polluted areas in the UK during the Industrial Revolution. There is the joke that Pigeons flew backwards in Pudsey to avoid getting soot in their eyes as the wind from industrial towns Leeds and Bradford blew thick soot into Pudsey.

As for the origins of Pudsey, it derives from the Old English name Pudoc, perhaps a diminuative of Puda, meaning Puduc’s island or river land. In 2009, a female bear by the name Blush joined Pudsey as a secondary mascot for the appeal, but Pudsey remains as the focal point for the day.

The next bear I immediately think of is Sooty, who first hit British sceens in the 50s on The Sooty Show, although I grew up with it’s successor, Sooty&co. A fellow bear, or panda bear, named Soo accompanies him in his various shows, and of course, Sooty’s cousin Scampi also featured.

Another blast from the past is The Jungle Book. Fun fact: Rudyard Kipling and I share the same birthday (but not the same year of birth, clearly) and The Jungle Book is more or less 100 years older than I (we’re talking the original publication, not the 60s Disney film). Baloo is a sloth bear from the book and the singer of the well-known tune ‘The Bare Necessities’.

I also confess to loving the name Rupert, not just because of the loveable bear who goes by the same name. Some say this is an issue for them, but he is an endearing character in my mind. The name Rupert is a German form of Robert, which means bright fame. Bear wuold also make for an unexpected nickname for Robert. Other famous cartoon bears include Winnie the Pooh, who was reportedly named after a real-life bear named Winnipeg, and our final bear: Paddington. Generally speaking, Winnie would be taking as a short form for the female name Winifred, but may also be considered for the more gender-neutral Winslow and Winter.

Moving slightly away from bears, one can’t ignore the recycling-nuts that are The Wombles. I grew up with them and I did believe them to be a species of bears named Wombles for pretty much the entirety of my childhood. My favourite character was called Orinoco and the one whose name has always catched my imagination was Tobermory.

The last name to consider is Teddy, as in Teddy Bear. Mostly given as a nickname for Theodore, I’ve been considering alternatives of late:

• Albert
• Bertram
• Alfred
• Dexter
• Frederick
• Edward/Edmund/Edgar (pretty much any Ed name)
• Sebastien
• Theophilius

I’m also lead to believe that there’s a character called Humphrey Bear in Australia, whilst America has Yogi Bear, who goes out with another bear named Cindy.

To finish, there are a few possible names to consider which either means bear or have a bear-related meaning:

• Arthur (disputed)
• Björn
• Dov
• Ursula

Name Spot of the Week: Hometown Glory

George the Beekeeper lives on Beeston High Road

I need to get more organised with these posts – this is the second time in a row I’ve posted late. For those interested in my excuse – I was at an awards function at Trent Bridge last night. I didn’t meet any England players such as Stuart Broad, but did meet Steve Mullaney, another player for Nottinghamshire.

One of the main winners of the night was a cricket club from Kimberley, which seemed to have strong teams in all the age groups (U12, U13…etc.). So it seems a good time to mention the names of some other places ’round my hometown – especially since Kate Hudson and Matt Bellamy welcomed their son Bingham ‘Bing’ earlier on in the year, and my Auntie lives there. There is an area named Arnold, which is an already established name. But then there’s Wilford, which isn’t too far removed from Wilfred. Other possible options:

Annesley

Ashfield

Aslockton

Aspley

Barnby (Moor)

Basset(law)

Beeston

Blyth

Brinsley

Broxtowe

Bunny

Burton Joyce

(Car) Colston

Carlton

Clifton

Dunkirk

Everton

Felley

Forest Fields

Lace (Market)

Hyson (Green)

Lenton Abbey

Mapperley

(The) Meadow(s)

Plumtree

Saxondale

Sherwood

Strelley

Tithby

Walesby

Children in Need is almost upon us, which is an annual fundraising day aimed at improving the lives of children. Each year a group releases a single for charity, and this years charity single is a collaboration of several different artists known together as The Collective. There are some fascinating names amongst them all:

Cleopatra Elizabeth ‘Mz. Bratz’

Harley ‘Sylvester’, from Rizzle Kicks

Jahmaal Noel ‘Chipmunk’

Jermaine ‘Wretch 32’

Jordan ‘Rizzle’, from Rizzle Kicks

Kwasi ‘Tinchy Stryder’

Niomi Arleen ‘Ms. Dynamite’

Timothy ‘Labrith’

Tulisa Paulinea, from N-Dubz

On a totally different note, I caught my first glimpse of this year’s University Challenge. Yes, it’s been going on since July, but I’m a busy person who rarely watches much TV. I went through and quickly picked out some of the names of previous winners whose name made me sit up and notice (the date in the brackets is of the year they won, followed by the institute they represented):

Aubrey (1968, Keele. Male.)

Colum (2003, Birkbeck College, London)

Dorjana (2002, Somerville College, Oxford)

Frederick ‘Wynn’ (1974, Trinity College, Cambridge)

Geffyn (1986, Jesus College, Oxford)

Geoffrey (1963, Leicester)

Gwilym (1997, Magdalen College, Oxford)

Jerzy (1975, Keble College, Oxford)

Kwasi (1995, Trinity College, Cambridge – two in one post? Yes!)

Madeleine (1963, Leicester)

Meredith (1970, Churchill College, Cambridge)

Reuben (2009, Manchester)

Stefano (2005, Corpus Christi College, Oxford)

Siegfried (2001, Imperial College London)

Thor (2003, Birkbeck College, London)

Straining Bookshelfs

The Thief Lord cover, from amazon.com

One of the best places to root around for names inspirations is books. The fictional world is where anything goes really – I once read a book named Storm’s Child where the main characters were called Rail (male) and Moa (female). Whilst I never got into Garth Nix’s main successes, I did love his book Shade’s Children – where the main characters were called Drum (male), Gold-Eye (male), Ninde (female) and Ella. Eoin Colfer once wrote a book called Supernaturalist, with characters Cosmo, Stefan and Mona. I digress, I read too much as a mid-teen and now my bookshelfs strain under the weight of all the books I own.

Since both Abby and Elea have both covered names of fictional characters this week in their own ways, I’m instead going to bring you inspiration from the names of the author’s which I read back when every waking moment of my life curled up with a book, along with the name of one of my favourite titles by them and some names from said title:

Benjamin Zephaniah (Teacher Dead–Jackson)

Benjamin Obadiah Iqbal Zephaniah is his full name, and I’m in awe of the mix of styles he’s been bestowed. I’ve met two young Zeph’s recently – one was a Zephyr and twin of Asher, whilst the other was a Zephaniah.TV’s Julia Bradbury welcomed a son named Zephyr earlier on this year in August.

The name Benjamin is of Hebrew origins and means son of the south/right hand, whilst Zephaniah is also of Hebrew origins and means Yahweh has hidden. For the sake of completion, Zephyr means west wind, whilst Asher means happy or blessed.

And a quick breakdown of each name’s popularity in 2010 in England&Wales:

	Benjamin	Zephaniah	Zephyr	Asher
Rank	22	1407	3332	364
Births	3005	17	5	112

Blue Balliett (Chasing Vermeer–Petra and Calder)

Balliett purposefully chose unusually names, believing that’s exactly what would appeal to her readers. When I initially read Chasing Vermeer about 3 years ago I didn’t like the name Petra all that much, but she’s grown on me. She’s the female form of Peter, which means rock, although the character was named with reference to the ancient city of Petra and as part of family naming tradition.

Now, for some hard data from the 2010 data for England&Wales. Blue doesn’t rank for girls (the author is female), but does for the boys:

	Blue	Calder	Petra
Rank	1801	n/a	1472
Births	12	n/a	20

Cornelia Funke (The Thief Lord–Prosper, Boniface ‘Bo’, Scipio, Esther and Ida)

I adore the name Prosper, and it’s from this book that my love for him was first sparked. I acknowledge that Funke’s other work, the Inkheart trilogy, is better known, but this one has a special place in my heart.

As for the name of the author, first we must note that the author is German, and then note the name is the female form of the Latin name Cornelius. The name comes from the Latin element cornu, which means horn. 4 girls were named Cornelia in 2010 in England&Wales, putting it at #4688. On the flip side, 6 lads were named Cornelius last year, and thus at a ranking of #2941. And for the names of her characters I mentioned above? (The ranking for Bo is the male ranking)

	Prosper	Boniface	Scipio
Rank	n/a	n/a	n/a
Birth	n/a	n/a	n/a
	Esther	Ida	Bo
Rank	156	878	1483
Birth	334	40	16

Cressida Cowell (How To Speak Dragonese–Hiccup, Fishlegs and Camicazi)

I know that I’m probably too old for Cowell’s books these days, but I am still eagerly awaiting the next installment of the Hiccup franchise next month (the film adaption of the first book dissolved me into tears-the only film to ever do so). I love the name Cressida, and she’s the medieval form of another name I love: Chryseis and also means gold. In Greek legend, Chryseis was the daughter of Chryses, a priest of Apollo. Since Hiccup and friends don’t rank, but Cressida does at #4688, with 4 births – same as Cornelia.

Enid Blyton (The Mystery of the Burnt Cottage–Frederick ‘Fatty’, Margaret ‘Daisy’, Lawrence ‘Larry’, Philip ‘Pip’ and Elizabeth ‘Bets’)

Enid is almost synonymous nowadays with the author, and the name comes from Welsh and means either soul or life. As an author, she chose rather classic names, all of which are not as popular nowadays as they were back when the books were first published, the one mentioned above came out in 1943:

	Enid	Frederick	Lawrence
Rank	2104	95	355
Births	12	688	117
	Philip	Margaret	Elizabeth
Rank	296	505	49
Births	152	80	1356

Compare the rankings of 2010 with that of 1934 when  all six names were in the Top 100:

	Enid	Frederick	Lawrence
1934	68	24	72
2010	2104	95	355
	Philip	Margaret	Elizabeth
1934	56	1	14
2010	296	505	49

Malorie Blackman (Noughts & Crosses–Persephone ‘Sephy, Jasmine and Meggie)

The Noughts&Crosses trilogy was the one which first introduced me to the name Persephone, although I wasn’t sure of the pronunciation until I watched the television show Firefly. My copy of the first book is also signed by the author, Malorie Blackman, which I won, rather than stood in a line for.

The name Malorie is a variant spelling of Mallory, a name that comes from Norman French and means unfortunate. Rather makes me think of the CBBC show Trapped, where the contestants are known as unfortunates. Persephone’s meaning is not established, although she has been linked to Greek words which means murder or to destroy, whilst Meggie is a short form of Margaret and Jasmine is a lovely botanical name. They rank, as such:

	Malorie	Mallory	Persephone
Rank	n/a	4688	3156
Births	n/a	4	7
	Jasmine	Meggie
Rank	41	5707
Births	1466	3

Tamora Pierce (The Magic In The Weaving–Sandrilene ‘Sandry’, Trisana ‘Tris’, Daja, Briar (male) and Lark)

I actually took this book out of my local library by mistake more than anything, but found myself reading it anyway. Whilst a little difficult to follow to begin with, I loved it enough to read all it’s sequels. This is the first real occasion I came across the name Briar, since I was never really shown Sleeping Beauty as a child, and I actually like it. The character himself chose the name, wanting something botanical, yet masculine. I think he achieved that, since I’ve often misread the name as Bear.

As for the name of the author, Tamora, she’s a variant spelling of the name Tamara, which is a variant of the name Tamar, which means palm tree in Hebrew. Predictably, none of the names have really made an impact in the popularity data for England&Wales (the data for Briar is the female one, since there is no male ranking):

	Tamora	Tamara	Sandry	Lark
Rank	n/a	458	n/a	5707
Births	n/a	90	n/a	3
	Trisana	Daja	Briar
Rank	n/a	n/a	5707
Births	n/a	n/a	3

Tom Becker (Darkside–Carnegie, Vendetta and Marianne)

I listed him because of his surname, rather than his first name. Becket is a nouveau name getting some attention right now, and I think I like Becker a tad more. He’s a German surname and variant of another surname, Becke, which means baker. The Carnegie Award is given out annually to a single children’s book which has impressed, and named after Andrew Carnegie.

Out of all the names, only Marianne ranks in the England&Wales data – at #946 with 36 uses.

Babies in the early ’90s

Let’s number-crunch. Courtesy of my sister, I got my hands on the class lists for her year (grade) at school. The names totalled around 150, and when we factor in the sixth form class list, who are two years older, we have a reasonably sized data covering popular baby names for catholics (catholic school) in England in the early 1990s:

British Babies Born Circa 1990-1994

BOYS – ALPHABETICALLY

Aidan +Aiden

Alexander x3 +Alistair +Alisdair

Andrew x2

Ashley x2

Benjamin x2 +Ben

Bryn +Finn

Christopher x2

Connor +Conor

David x4

Hugo +Hugh +Huw

Jack x5

Jacob +Jakub

James x7

John +Jonathan

Joseph x7 +Joe

Joshua x2

Frederick + Freddie

Matthew x2 +Matteaus

Michael x4

Ryan x2

Theodore +Theo

Thomas x7

William x2 +Liam x2

BOYS – NUMERICALLY (3 or more)

Joseph et al = 8

James = 7

Thomas = 7

Daniel = 6

Alexander et al = 5

Jack = 5

Michael = 4

William et al = 4

Benjamin et al = 3

Hugo et al = 3

Matthew et al = 3

GIRLS – ALPHABETICALLY

Alexandra x2 +Alexa

Alice x2 +Alicia

Amy x2

Ana + Anne +Joanne +Leanne +Rhian +Roxanne

Beatrice +Beatrix x2

Cara +Clare +Clara

Caroline +Karolina

Chloe x3

Eleanor x3 +Ellen x2 +Helen x2 +Helena

Elizabeth +Eliza

Emma x2 +Emily

Esther +Esme

Eugenie x2

Frances x2

Hannah x2

Hayley x2

Jennifer x3

Jessica x3

Kathryn +Catherine +Katie x2

Laura x5 +Lauren

Lucy x4

Lily x2 +Lila +Lillian +Lilia

Maria x2 +Marie

Molly +Mollie

Natasha +Sasha x2

Olivia x3

Sarah +Sara

Sophie x3

Vanessa x2

GIRLS – NUMERICALLY (3 or more)

Eleanor et al = 8

Ana et al = 6

Lily et al =5

Kathryn et al = 4

Lucy = 4

Alexandra et al = 3

Beatrice et al = 3

Cara et al = 3

Chloe = 3

Emma et al = 3

Jennifer = 3

Jessica = 3

Natasha et al = 3

Olivia = 3

Philippa = 3

Sophie = 3

MALE/FEMALE

Daniel x6 +Danielle

George x2 +Georgina

Harry +Hattie +Harriet

Phillip +Philippa x3

Valentino +Valentina

THE IRISH GANG

Sean x2 +Shaun +Sian

Sinead +Seamus +Roisin +Bronagh +Lorcan +Ciara x2 +Niall

Patrick x2

THE NOTABLES

The prevalence of Irish names is not taken as uncommon in a catholic school.

Jack was outnumbered by several names: Joseph, James and Thomas. He began his stay at the top of the UK Top 100 list at the end of the decade. Two of the Jacks had the same surname.

Both of the Ashley’s, born when America embraced the name as a female one, were male.

The Eugenie’s were born just after Princess Eugenie, and the Beatrice/trixes born after Princess Eugenie’s sister: Princess Beatrice.

Non of the Lucy’s were a Lucille, Lucienne etc. They were all just Lucy.

The Emma’s outnumbered the Emily.

From personal knowledge:

-None of the Philippa’s in the list shortens their name to Pippa.

-All of the Eleanor’s were nicknamed Ellie.

* In the interests of not boring you all to death with an endless list of data, any name on the class lists which appeared once, without a similar name has been omitted from the data. This accounts for around 30 names out of the roughly estimated 240 names.