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 Brittons

from sosogay.com

You thought they’d disappeared off the face of the Earth, but fear not, the Sibsets of the Week are back after a short hiatus.

This week’s sibset is inspired by what shall be taking place next weekend – as an early Christmas present I’m taking my sister to see Strictly live in Wembley next weekend (eek!), but there’s one celeb we won’t be seeing there after she was voted off the show last night – Fern Britton.

Fern is a broadcaster, best know for presenting ITV show This Morning alongside Philip Schofield and in Strictly she was partnered up with Artem, who won with partner Kara Tointon two series ago now. As for Fern, she also happens to be one of the three children of veteran actor Tony Britton, the complete set being remarkably botanical in theme:

Fern

Cherry

Jasper

Sibset of the Week: The Drewitt-Barlows

Barrie and Tony with their children, l-r: Saffron, Dallas, Orlando, Jasper and Aspen.

This week we’re looking at the children of two well-known gay parents in Britain. Since 2004, it has been legal in the UK for a gay couple to enter a civil partnerships, and recently it has been fiercely debated as to whether to extend this to marriage as well.

Barrie and Tony have been quite prominent in the fight for equal rights. They first came to prominence in 1999 after they travelled to the US in order to become parents. This was followed by a ruling by an American court, making their eldest two, twins, the first British children to be registered as having two fathers and no mother. They then had to battle to bring them home to Britain.

Since then, after the birth of their twins, they went on to have three more sons – including another set of twins:

Aspen, twin of Saffron

Saffron, twin of Aspen

Orlando

Jasper, twin of Dallas

Dallas, twin of Jasper

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.

The Crazy Brits

Let’s indulge ourselves with a litte name spotting in the London Birth Announcements, notable names are in bold, siblings in brackets:

Alexandra Charlotte Ozanne, (Isabelle)

Alice Dhanlaxmi

Amelia Jonquil Angharad

Amélie India Lucy, (William)

Beau Vivienne, (Ada Rose)

Celia Jane Vanessa, (Dougal)

Charlotte Carol Jane, (Oscar)

Darcey Carmen Rose, (Theo)

Ellen Andrea Maria

Florence Iona Emily Peel, (Isla and Willa)

Isla Aris

Henrietta Philippa Rose, (Annelies and Martha)

Iona Kathryn, (Imogen May)

Iris Arabella, (Katinka)

Isla Katherine

Isobelle Susannah

Jemima and Willa, twins

Katinka Alice Belsham, (Bella and Freddie)

Katinka Lily

Liberty Valentina Vaughan

Louisa Jane, Alistair

Mair ‘Polly’ Elisabeth Patricia, (Florence)

Marnie

Martha Maud, (Guy)

Martha Sophie Poppy, (Tilly and Olive)

Mary Beatrice Rose

Mary Constance, (Elsa and George)

Molly Elizabeth Sarah

Molly Juliet

Nancy Rebecca, (Lily)

Nancy Rose

Octavia, (Claudia)

Sadie Francesca

Soma Isis, (Seth and Saul)

Tessa Charlotte Jane, (Isabelle and Eliza)

Tessa Honor Bruce, (Tamsin and Jemima)

Willa Victoria Joanna Rees, (Hamish)

Zinnia Alice Victoria

—

Alasdair James Dudley

Alexander George Walter Halley, (Serena)

Archie Geoffrey

Arthur John Christopher, (Thady)

Caspar Anthony Wallace

Freddie Samuel, (Jack and Georgia)

George Alfred Beresford

George James Sherlock

George Raffles Tyndale

Griffyd Hunter Heber

Hector David

Henry Arthur Bromhead, (Jenkyn)

Henry Leonidas Tiberius, (Mark and Rupert)

James Luigi Wood, (Johnny)

Jasper Florian

Lawrence Happy John Owen, (Minnie Love and Heidi Sunshine)

Luke Christopher Æneas, (Angus, Orlando and Cosmo)

Oscar Gürsel

Oscar Jack Peter, (Kit and Jemima)

Peter Jack, Angus

Raphael Willam, (Isabella Flora and Lochlann James)

Rudy Felix James, (Olly and Chloe)

Tarka Alexander Arthur

Tobias Tarquin

Thomas Douglas Marinho

Wilbur Clement, (Patti Plum)

My favourite sibset? It has to be Lawrence Happy, Minnie Love and Heidi Sunshine.