Weekend Post: Good, Fresh, Uncomplicated Names

Eat’s ethos

Since I shared this photo in last week’s Spot post, I’ve been thinking about the Eat ethos, which is good, fresh, uncomplicated food.

What would be the naming equivalent?

Let’s break it down.

FRESH

Fresh is often used (and I’m particularly guilty of this one) as another way to say unusual, but one could also see it as a name that hasn’t been overexposed.

In the end I settled for 4 set criteria for a name to pass this category and go on to the next category. For a name to be fresh in my eyes, it must not be:

• A name that has been in the Top 100 for 10 years at some point in time
• A name that ever been #1
• A name that has been given to a high profile celeb offspring
• A name that has risen more than 100+ places in the Top 500 since 2000

Taking this into consideration, names that fail this category include:

1. Amber
2. Amelie (up 1420 since 2000)
3. Chloe
4. Harry
5. Jack
6. Kayden (up 1326 since 2000)
7. Lexi (up 1949 since 2000)
8. Oliver
9. Suri
10. Thomas

GOOD

For a name to be good, I believe it has to have little negative connections such as an evil forebearer (whether fictional or not) or less-than-lovely meaning.

8 names that would fall down at this hurdle, but would’ve passed the previous category include:

1. Adolf – self explanatory
2. Azrael – aka The Angel of Death
3. Bellatrix – think Harry Potter
4. Dolores – means sorrows + think Harry Potter
5. Gretel – Hansel&Gretel tale
6. Louhi – name of a death goddess in Finnish mythology
7. Memphis – the US city known for crime
8. Mordred – rival of Arthur in Arthurian legend
9. Nuala – the Nuala in Irish mythology was less-than-nice
10. Persephone – means murder /to destroy

UNCOMPLICATED

What makes a name complicated? One could say it is a name which causes little spelling/pronunciation issues, such as James and Ruby.

8 names that fail this test, but passed the previous two include:

1. Caoimhe – pronounced KEE-va
2. Ceridwen – pronounced ke-RID-wen
3. Eluned – pronounced EH-lee-ned
4. Heliodoro – just generally a mouthful of a name
5. Joachim/Joaquin – just generally a name that causes me a headache when it comes to pronunciation
6. Schuyler – pronounced SKY-ler
7. Solveig – pronounced SOL-vay
8. Xanthe – pronounced ZAN-the

So, without further ado, here’s the list of  some of the names I think  pass all three tests:

BOYS

1. Angus
2. August
3. Barnaby
4. Bruno
5. Caspian
6. Cosmo
7. Ever
8. Ezra
9. Fergus
10. Gray
11. Indigo
12. Ivor
13. Rio

GIRLS

1. Avalon
2. Blossom
3. Coral
4. Gwen
5. Hero
6. Ingrid
7. Josie
8. Lux
9. Nova
10. Orla
11. Roma
12. Rosemary
13. Vera

Do you dispute any of these choices? Are there any names you think qualify too?

Loulou…

from rouskadetiolles.fr

Remember how I mentioned the names of John Torode’s kids a few weeks ago in our weekly Sibset post? Well, at the time I claimed his youngest child was called Lulu – and it seems that I was half right. You see, I read an article by the man himself quite by chance a few days ago and he spelled her name Loulou. Loulou! Like Lou, but twice the fun – I’m almost jealous.

This got me thinking, as most things in my life do, about other names which have the quirky characteristic of containing mine. One of my favourite films growing up was The Jungle Book which featured a character called Baloo. Staying with films we have Leeloo from Luc Besson’s The Fifth Element – whose name went on to dominate the French popularity charts in a different guise: Lilou.

Those two examples only scratch the surface. Delving deeper we get to Blue – now famed after Beyonce and Jay-Z gave it to their daughter born in January, whilst Geri Halliwell has a daughter named Bluebell.

Moving over to names starting with Lou, let’s start with royalty. The Duke and Duchess of Cambridge recently became owners of a dog named Lupo – whilst actress Hilary Duff welcomed a son named Luca only the other day.

Lupo is an interesting choice and it’s Italian for wolf. A few years ago VW manufactured a car called Lupo, with the last one rolling off the production line in 2005. Interestingly, it was replaced by a car named Fox.

As for Luca, the first critical point to make is that you can legitimately give this name to either your daughter or son – it’s not just a male-only name. Yes, Luca is the Italian and Portuguese version of Luke, but at the same time the name is also the Croatian and Hungarian version of Lucia.

Speaking of Lucia, there’s a new kid on the block with her posse of names and that is the one which started it all off – Lux. From this Latin word for light we get many names, and many offshoots of such names (my favourite, aside from Lucy, is the Welsh Lleulu). Some parents are now opting to return to using simply Lux – and I’ve seen it used on both boys and girls. A comedian by the name of Eddie Perfect recently welcomed a daughter named Lottie Lux, sister for Kitty. Back in June 2011, footballer Andrew Embley welcomed a son named Lux Edward, brother for Autumn Claire.

Both Luke and Lucas are in the Top 100 in England&Wales, but neither Lucian nor Lucius are. It’s worth noting though that the first two names mean man from Lucania, whereas the latter two mean light; aside from them, we also have Lumina which means light.

The opposite of the light is dark, and that’s my strenuous link to Luna – a name which means moon. Sometimes the French will spell this name as Louna, which is a respelling I find myself fond of.

Going back to Eastern Europe, we have Lubomír from the Czech Republic which has the wonderful meaning of peace and light. A name Lubomír always reminds me of the French Ludovic – often shortened to Ludo as Ben Fogle does with his young Ludo – which means famed warrior. From Germany we get Leuthar, or Luther, which means people’s army and this is a name which has passed into English-speaking usage. I’m sure I’m also seen a similar name along the lines of Luthos before.

Now, we’ve mentioned plenty of names beginning with Lou, but there are a few more names which contained a lou sound.

The first I want to mention is Tallulah, a rather fun in sound name and certainly less controversial than the similar name Delilah. Whilst the meaning is uncertain, there are some waterfalls in Georgia named Tallulah. There’s a similar looking Irish name – Talulla – which means princess.

Then we have Mélusine, a name from European folklore. The tale goes that Melusine was a water fairy who transformed into a serpent from the waist below every Saturday.

A male name that merits a mention is Pluto which was until recently the name of a planet; he means wealth. Then we have another popular French name to finish off the list: Elouan. He comes as the name of an obscure saint, recorded in Cornwall as being Elven or Elvan. In Cornish, elven means spark.

All that said, I still believe that the name Lou rocks more than any of these names, personal preference and all.

Name Spot of the Week: Game Show Blitz

Simmy (l) and James (r), from James May's Man Lab, from tinypic.com

I found myself humming Little April Shower from Bambi earlier on today, and that got me thinking: April or Avril? Or maybe even Aprella? There were four voice actors for Bambi in his film, of which the ones for baby, young and adolescent Bambi were called Bobby, Donnie and Hardie.

I’ve rediscovered the TV channel Challenge this week, and have been busy gobbling up up the classic game show reruns. Earlier on today I caught an episode of Family Fortunes featuring a family of elderly ladies named Joan, Dorothy, Enid, Margaret and Ella. To the modern eye, Ella looks almost out-of-place, but in fairness Ella was at #97 in 1904.

Classic Who Wants To Be A Millionaire threw up an Ingram – who went on to win the top prize. He has a son called Isaac ‘Zac’, whilst the player beforehand used his friend Olaf for Phone A Friend.

Million Pound Drop also restarted up again this week – huzzah! Akbar and Lynne won 25k, whilst Craig and Seve won 100k. Seve was half-spanish and he reminds me of the man called Simmy who turned up in James May’s Man Lab series from a few weeks ago. I can only speculate that Simmy is short for Simon. Back to Million Pound Drop and there was also a pair called Jono and Liam, and another pairing called Kenneth and Whitney who went out on their first question.

I’ve also started to get into this series of Masterchef: The Professionals, whilst includes a male named Perry – and another one named Ash. Speaking of Ash, 3-letter names rock, and I’m not just saying that because Lou fits this category. I’m also saying this because I couldn’t help but notice a buzz developing around these names of late, especially over at Elea’s little corner of the internet. They’re certainly more intriguing than Ann or Rob, and the collection mentioned over the past week by my peers is nothing short of fascinating:

Roa, from Eponymia’s post on Names From Jordan.

Zed and Ovo, from Bewitching Names’ post of Names From Cirque du Soleil

Ada and Azo from Baby Names From Yesteryear’s post on Lord Byron.

Bell, Pax, Paz, Eir, Joy, Gil, Lux, Luz, Ora, Ori, Uri, Nur and Xue from British Baby Names’ Advent Calendar series.

Icy and Ivy from Midwinter Names’ post on Wintery Names.

Ava and Jem from Waltzing More Than Matilda’s post on Names From Stories on Midwives

Asa and Roy from Names 4 Real’s most recent post of Birth Annoucements.

Zeb and Zef from Appellation Mountain’s post on Z- Names for Lads.

Dot from Nook of Names post on Rune Names.

Wim and Kit from Marginamia’s post on Names from The Glow.

Sibset of the Week: The Whileys

Jo Whiley, via express.co.uk

The Radio DJ Jo Whiley, born Johanne, recently switched stations from BBC Radio 1 to BBC Radio 2 after a stint lasting over 10 years. She’s noted as being capable of identifying hits before they actually become them and perhaps that’s also true for the names she’s chosen for her offspring. They were born over a 15 year or so period, so I’ve included roughly the year each was born to give a better indication of their ages:

India (1991)

Jude (2002)

Cassius (2004)

Coco Lux (2008)