Henrique&Jasmine vs. Frankie&June

from wordpress.com

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.

Chatsworth House of Names

Chatsworth House, from toffsmen.com

You’d think, given that I’ve spent the last fortnight in the USA that I’d want to talk more about American names. It seems not because Chatsworth House is on my mind, which is one of the closest stately homes to me. It also happens to be home to the 12th Duke of Devonshire and some of the fascinating names you’d expect from the aristocracy.

First, a moment to mention that no, I haven’t quietly moved south. Chatsworth House is in North Derbyshire, but like many rich families, the Cavendishs bought the title Duke of Devonshire in 1616 from James I. The first, William, reportedly paid in the region of £10,000 for it.

But, back to the modern day crop of the family and we’ll start with the eldest living tier. Or, we would do, except Nook has already spoken about the Mitford sisters of which the youngest, Deborah ‘Debo’, is the mother of the current Duke. With Andrew Cavendish, 11th Duke of Devonshire, she actually had several offspring, including:

• Mark
• Emma
• Peregrine
• Victor
• Mary
• Sophia

Since Mark died shortly after birth it is her second son who is the current (12th) Duke of Devonshire: Peregrine Andrew Morny. He took the title in 2004 following the death of his father. Deborah, Dowager Duchess of Devonshire is still around, though.

The name Peregrine comes from Latin and means traveller – rather setting me on the thought train of ‘Wow! Wouldn’t Beatrix and Peregrine work well together?’. Those feeling in the dark, Beatrix could come from the Late Latin name Viatrix which means means voyager, albeit with influence from the Latin word beatus, meaning blessed.

Morny is an interesting choice, with aristocratic links. French ones, though, as there was once a Duc de Morny. It’s after him that the horse race, Prix Morny, is named since he was a great lover of the sport.

As for Peregrine, Duke of Devonshire, he married a lady named Amanda on 28 June 1967 and together they have three children:

William ‘Bill’

Celina

Jasmine

The youngest, Jasmine, was born in 1975, a whole 17 years prior to Aladdin being released in 1992 – a film often associated with the popularity of the name. Then we have Celina, which isn’t all that dissimilar to a rather more modern-day Disney-associated name: Selena, as in, Selena Gomez whom appears in Wizard of Waverley Place – she herself was named after the Mexican singer.

As for their third child, should William become the 13th Duke of Devonshire, he’ll be the 8th Duke to bear the name William. Infact, it was an unbroken chain of Williams from the 1st to the 7th, a pattern broken by Spencer, 8th Duke of Devonshire. This is because his elder brother, William, died young. The 10th Duke’s eldest son was also called William, but he was killed in WWI before the death of his father, hence stopping him from becoming the 11th Duke of Devonshire, which then passed onto the aformentioned Andrew.

Moving onto the youngest generation, William currently has two children with his wife, Laura:

• Maud
• James

Maud is certainly one of those names I can see more and more people using – the popular name Madison means son of Maud (Maud as a nickname for Madison? Probably too different in style – no?).  Maud herself is a medieval form of Matilda. Personally, I feel myself leaning towards Maud with an e: Maude and I love the idea of using her with something overly girly: Maude Eulalie; Maude Felicity; Maude Cecily, to name just a few.

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.

Closet Chemistry: Amines and Esters

I’ve been thinking about organic chemistry quite a bit recently, and the combining of it with the topic of names struck me when we mentioned Amine last week. It’s a name of relative popularity in France, but it’s also the name of a functional group containing a nitrogen with a lone pair of electrons. For those interested, they can look like this:

Primary Amine, from wikipedia.org

You may have no idea why they’re important but it’s from amines that we get amino acids, which collectively make up proteins. That makes them vital for life. So, one could call Amino a slight variation of the name Amine – especially given that the French slightly altered the Arabic name Amin to get to Amine. Amin comes from the Arabic word for truthful and the female form of the name is Amina(h). Aminah was the name of the prophet Muhammad’s mother, who died when he was young. The Arabic word and name Amina means feel safe. For Bosnia and Herzegovina, Amina was the #1 female name in 2010; the most popular male name that year was Amar.

Names that sound like they’re related to the above ones include the Iranian name Minoo, sometimes seen as Minu, which derives from Persian and means heaven or paradise. Like the English name Heaven, or alas the infamous Nevaeh, Minoo is a feminine name. A name of Arabic origins which means heaven, or indeed sky, is the female name Alya. Going back to the French, in 2009, the name Alya ranked at #259 in France.

The reason Arabic names feature in French name popularity is Algeria and Tunisia. Both are former colonies of France, from which many immigrants have moved to France, and brought their naming tendencies with them. For both, Arabic is the official language and both earned their independence from France in the middle of the 20th century.

Other popular names of Arabic origins in France include Mohamed, Rayan, Mehdi, Nassim, Farah, Naim, Sana, Marwa and Salma, to name just a few.

And for those wondering whether we’re using Amine in England&Wales, we are – to a certain extent. In 2010, 11 boys were given the name Amine with a further 37 named Amin, putting the latter name at #792. Amina ranks even higher for girls, at #182, with 285 girls given the name and Aminah ranking at #254 with 128 of them born.

Another group of organic compounds are called Esters, said pretty much the same as you would the name Esther. She fit’s nicely with our already established post-theme of names inspired by our friends from the East as Esther means star in Persian. An Ester looks like this:

Ester, from tqn.com

Of course, it’s not concrete that Esther derives from Persian and hence means star. The name Esther comes from the Bible, being given to Hadassah upon the moment she entered the royal harem of King Ahaseurus. Esther could also have derived from the name Ishtar, the name of the Babylonian and Assyrian goddess of love, war and fertility; the Phoenicians called her Ashtoreth. What is worth noting is that the Dutch word for star is ster, which has given birth to the Dutch name Sterre (ster-ra).

Esther has given birth to a plentitude of variations: from Hester to Estee; Eszti (Hungarian) to Esteri (Finnish). What’s worth noting is that the spelling Ester is a legitimate international variant of the name Esther, used by Scandinavians, Spaniards, Czechs, Finns and the Portuguese.

When it comes to Esther vs. Hester in the popularity charts for England&Wales in 2010, Esther wins outright. She’s at #156 with 334 girls given the name compared to Hester, who is much further down at #1815 with only 15 born.

The -er ending for male names is starting to be touted as an upcoming trend, but there are some undoubtedly pretty girls names which end the same way, like Esther and Hester:

• Amber
• Aster
• Clover
• Demeter
• Ember
• Ginger
• Grier
• Harper
• Heather
• Juniper
• Lavender
• Miniver
• Piper
• Skyler
• Summer

Notice how most derive directly from English words? What’s more both Jasmine and Jasper are names popular in England&Wales, and of Persian origins, as Esther could be; Jasper means treasurer in Persian. Colour names Azure and Scarlet also have links with Persian words, and that’s where we shall end this post.

Birdy

Birdy, from amazonaws.com

I very rarely plan posts for the week ahead, usually just making things up as I go along but I am starting to notice that despite this it seems I always have a theme running through what I post each week. Last week it was name trends, and this week it appears to be music. Last night rumours were raging that band of my youth S Club 7 have decided to reform as a result of the other band of my youth Steps successfully having a comeback this year. The good people of Twitter are now demanding Bustedreform to complete the set, but we’ve yet to get that announcement.

What I really want to talk about, however, is an emerging talent: Birdy. I mentioned her very briefly a few weeks ago when I spied her on the news, but I’ve started to hear murmurings about her amongst my peers which has me wondering whether this fledgling muscian will be dominating the charts in the coming years. To put this into context, I was hearing the very same people murmur about the likes of Justin Bieber and Nicki Minaj weeks before either of them started their assault on our ears.

It seems the future is bright for young Birdy  – but it was too much to expect Birdy is her real name; it’s actually Jasmine, who is two months older than one of my sisters, making me feel rather old. That said, the age gap is about the same between myself and the aformentioned Bieber.

Kristen recently held a bird week over at her blog, Marginamia, which included a superb guest post over at Namberry, and Elea has also got in on the act to talk about bird names. As for me, I’ve only gone so far as to talk about the potential of using Birdie as a nickname for Beatrice/Beatrix.

The One Show comes right after the news on BBC1 here in the UK and is a rather magazine-news style of show. They recently had a segment on golf, in which a Birdie is one stroke under par. I’m a pro at seaside mini puts/adventure golf/crazy golfs – so if you ever need advice on where to go, feel free to ask. I lost a ball in a waterfall at the pirate one in Great Yarmouth in the Summer, whilst the pirate golf at Blackpool is mostly in the dark.

Going back to the world of babies, no golfer I can think of has yet to name their son or daughter Birdie, but two actresses have: Elizabeth ‘Busy’ Philipps has a daughter named Birdie, as does Maura West.  Only 3 girls were named Birdie in 2010, so the name has yet to really take off here in the UK, which is fine if you’re looking for a name no one is using but everyone will recognise.

What you shouldn’t do is get the name muddled up with Bridie – which I’ll admit to doing frequently. There’s a lady who occasionally writes for the Daily Mail with three daughters: Bronte, Merrily and Bridie. The name Bridie derives from Bridget, and 20 of them were born in 2010, making her slightly more popular than Birdie although really both names remain obscure.

So, Birdy. Birdie. We know from yesterday that names such as Adele and Leona have benefited from a famous bearer, but will Birdy go the same way? The sticking point is that Adele and Leona were already enjoying relative usage before each respective singer stepped into the spotlight – but Jenson was nowhere to be seen before the driver made his F1 début, and he’s now inside the Top 100. So you could be seeing little Birdy’s in the future, but you easily may not be in that position.

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.

Name Spot of the Week: Sailing Across the Sea

The Team GB Sailing Team for 2012, from dailymail.co.uk

A few days ago the Team GB sailing team was announced for the 2012 London Olympics. I’ll admit that I’m a rower, not a sailor – I was one of the many Brits who had never heard of the Yngling class of sailing until we won a gold medal in it at Beijing. For the 2010 Olympics, it’s being replaced by the Elliott 6m. Other names of sailing classes?

We have the Finn class which has been dominated by Ben Ainslie in the past few years. By coincidence, he’s been covered in much detail over at My Advice this week. A quick selection of the names of other classes in the world of sailing gives us: Tempest, Soling, Dragon, Firefly, Corsair and Buzz. If any sailors read this post, and are offended that I’ve missed out their class, I’ll repeat that I’m no expert in sailing, so feel free to add your own list in the comments section and put me to shame.

Sticking firmly to the sailing theme, the names of the sailers which have been selected are quite interesting – the stand out one for me being Saskia Clark. The other selected few were, in alphabetical order:

Andrew Simpson

Annie Lush

Ben Ainslie

Bryony Shaw

Hannah Mills

Iain Percy

Kate MacGregor

Lucy MacGregor

Nick Dempsey

I’ve been hoarding Metro newspapers for the past fortnight of so, not just because I’ve yet to have time to the sudokus, but because I keep forgetting I’m holding them until it’s too late and I’m off the bus. Something I’ve been wanting to mention for awhile, though, is the name of one of the characters on it’s cartoon page: Nemi.

I have been reading the articles in the Metro though, and there was a new story in the Metro this week about a family who built their own ‘hobbit house’ in four months for a couple of grand. The creative parents behind the project, Simon and Jasmine Dale, have two young children: Cosmo and Elsie.

I casually mentioned Warby Parker as an inspiration behind a Names of the Week post from the start of the month, and this week Kristen over at Marginamia went one step further, bringing you the names of the entire collection.

Dancing with the Stars kicked off in the States this week, whilst we’re still waiting for Strictly Come Dancing to begin here in the UK. Not that I watch it, since dancing is for girls 😉 Either way, a quick rundown of some of the notable names of professionals who’ve taken part in the series at some stage or another:

Aliona Vilani

Anton du Beke

Artem Chigvintsev

Erin Boag

Flavia Cacace

Izabela Hannah

Jared Murillo

Katya Virshilas

Lilia Kopylova

Ola Jordan

Pasha Kovalev

Ice Hockey is more of my thing, even though I don’t own a season ticket as my Uncle does. I tagged along with him to the Panthers game last night, so now seems an apt time to mention that we have a player named Guillaume. I love the name Guillaume, sometimes more than William, sometimes less (Guillaume is the French form of William). For the confused, it’s gee-OM.

Let’s end on a cheery note by mentioning Nook’s list of names meaning wealth, good fortune, success of happiness – inspired by a look into the rune name Feoh. Tomiko? Aston? Love.