Scottish Forms of Popular Names, Female

via bbc.co.uk

Like yesterday we’re looking at the Scottish forms of some popular names. Again, the ranks quoted come from the Scotland 2013 set of data.

ALICE – Aileas

ANNA – Annag, Nandag

BEATRICE – Beitris

CAITLIN (#72)- Caitriona, Catriona (#413)

CHRISTINA (#344) – Cairistìona, Kirstin

ELEANOR (#147) – Eilionoir, Eilidh (#23)

ELIZABETH (#93) – Ealasaid, Elspet, Elspeth (#413)

FRANCESCA (#183) – Frangag

ISABELLA (#40) – Iseabail, Ishbel, Beileag, Isobel (#147)

KIRSTY (#213) – Ciorstaidh

LILY (#11) – Lillias, Lileas

LUCY (#5) – Liùsaidh

MARGARET (#319) – Maisie (#47), Mairead, Maighread, Peigi

MARY (#254) – Màiri, Mhairi (#344)

Sibset of the Week: The Bourkes, The Kurers and The Portases

Jo Brand, from coventrytelegraph.net

I have a rather bad habit of starting posts, but never really getting around to finishing them. My drafts folder is, rather embarassingly, getting out of hand. Therefore, this week we’re devoting this post to three families which have lived in my drafts graveyard for rather too long.

Generally speaking with these posts, if the family in question has just two, or maybe three, children I tend to pair them up with another family. In the case of these three families, I never really found a ‘suitable’ match for them, so they stayed in the draft folder. Therefore, this post may seem a tad all over the place, bear with me.

This week the first two surnames really give no indication of which families we’re covering, since neither father is well-known, rather, it’s their wives to whom the British public are familiar. As for the third, it may be ringing bells in some people’s heads.

With our first mother, we’re returning to the subject of female comics, having previously covered both Mel Giedroyc and Jennifer Saunders. As it happens, this mother, Jo Brand (born Josephine Grace way back in 1957), made it onto The Observer’s 2003 list of the 50 funniest acts in British Comedy which is a pretty impressive achievement. Unlike Giedroyc or Saunders, Jo Brand is first and foremost a stand up comic. Her subject material is sometimes a source of controversy, but for me she is the epitome of British dry, cynical humour. It’s also worth noting that she came onto the scene in the 1980s after working for the previous decade as a psychiatric nurse.

Either way, in the early 2000s, she welcomed two daughters with her husband Bernie:

Maisie

Eliza

Both names are quite popular here in the UK right now – in 2010 both names were in the Top 100 in England&Wales, with Maisie being one of the biggest climbers inside the Top 100. I think both names are rather feminine, which is unexpected for me given that Jo Brand doesn’t seem the pink frills kind. Then again, we haven’t taken her husband’s tastes into account, which remain unknown given that he doesn’t work in showbusiness, so little in known about him.

Moving on, we have our second famed mother, who isn’t a comedienne. Rather, Vanessa Feltz is a broadcaster and currently occupies the early morning (5-6.30am) weekday slot at Radio 2 (the most popular radio station in Britain in terms of listeners). Some have labelled her the hardest-working female in broadcasting given her various commitments.

With her ex-husband Michael Kurer, she had two daughters born in the late 1980s:

Allegra

Saskia

Two names often seen as favourites on the name boards, and they are certainly splendid together.

Our third, and final mother is Mary Portas, a self-styled shopping expert. Her TV show Mary Queen of Shops followed her visiting various failing shops and basically showing them where they were going wrong and so forth.

With her ex-husband she had two children:

Milo

Verity

Whilst I haven’t been able to pin down the exact ages of her children, from what I can tell they were born in the early to mid 1990s. Given I grew up with plenty of children born in England during these years I can easily say that neither name is particularly popular for where I live, although my sister born in the mid-1990s reports that she has a friend with the middle name Verity. So there you go.

Slightly More Usual Names

from flickr.com

I mention not-so-usual names quite a bit – I originally intended on covering a name given to only 20 boys in England&Wales in 2010 today, but put it on hold for another day. Instead, we’re talking about some Top 100 names I’m glad to see popular, and if I’m really honest with myself, I would happily use any of these names in a heartbeat.

Harry

Deep down, I know I’d love to use the name Harry. He does get a bit of a bad rap in some areas – usually by those who pronounce the same the same as the word hairy. Here in the UK, they’re completely different and that’s probably why he’s so much more successful here. You’d think the Harry Potter series would’ve promoted the British pronunciation elsewhere, but it seems to have made little impact. Either way, I find myself rathering Harry to Henry. I’m honestly unsure of why, certainly in the UK, you would use Henry and then use the nickname Harry – except for family/personal reasons. I guess I could understand it in the States where Henry is just so much more popular than Harry.

Of course, some of you will predictably want to only use him as a nickname, so here’s a quick list of potential ideas for full names of Harry:

Harper; Harrier (previously mentioned); Harold; Harvey; Horatio; Harding; Hardy; Amishar; Berhard/Bernard; Charbonnet; Charles; Charleston/Charlton; Harlow; Harrison; Harrod; Hartley; Harvard; Lothar; Harrison; Richard; Sacha; Zachariah/Zachary; Christopher.

Harry was at #3 in England&Wales in 2010 and he means home ruler. That is, if you’re deriving him from Henry.

Archie

I guess my heart did sink a little when I heard Rebecca Woolf proclaim that she doesn’t like the name Archie, and fights against her son Archer becoming one. These days it does seem more likely that parents wanting a long form of Archie would opt for Archer over Archibald. I like the idea of Archer, in that I happen to call the same part of the world home as Robin Hood once did – one of the most famed archers of legend. Back in Medieval times, you’d have been hard pressed to find an English man who could not wield a bow and arrow, as men were trained from the age of 7 by their father. The name Archibald somewhat reflects the characteristics of an archer with his meanings: Genuine; bold; brave.

One could call Archie the British Emma – like Emma with Emily, he has benefitted hugely from the popularity of the name Alfie. I know of plenty of people opting to use Archie over Alfie due to his position as being the lesser popular of the two – although these days the gap is relatively small. In 2010, Archie ranked at #24, whilst Alfie ranked at #4.

Stanley

I think I love him because he is just so hopelessly uncool in the eyes of many. That’s probably why I’m currently reconsidering my position on Percy. Surprisingly popular in this fair isle – slightly more so in Wales (#70) than England (#100) on rankings – there could be a variety of reasons why. The main character in popular sitcom Porridge was called Norman Stanley Fletcher ‘Fletch’, and is widely regarded as a great comic creation. We also have the explorer Sir Henry Morten Stanley – and of course there’s also Stan Shunpike and Stanley Yelnats from the fictional world. Of course, Stanley has also hugely benefited from the sudden interest in ‘old people names’. The name Stanley means stone clearing.

As much as I try to be open to the world of unisex names, the fact that Nameberry list Stanley as a female name unsettles me somewhat, more than the fact he’s listed on their Names No Boy May Be Cool Enough For list.

Jenson/Sonny

If you’re thinking, huh, I didn’t realise Sonny was in the top 100, you’d be half right. Sonny ranks at #100 in Wales alone (#113 in England, and combined at #111). It’s a slight cheat, yes, but if it seems apt to mention him with Jenson. The latter name is popular because of the F1 driver, and part of me is beyond thrilled because I did wonder whether parents would be put off by the ‘Jen‘ part of the name (especially with Jennifer lingering around). I guess the driver is well-known enough for parents to be prepared to use him.

As for Sonny, I’m slightly surprised by the uptake of the name, but know I shouldn’t really be. Sophie Ellis-Bextor and Richard Jones welcomed their own Sonny way back in 2004. Brother Kit Valentine followed in 2009, and they’ve recently announced that they’re expecting another bundle of joy later on this year.

Maisie

Most of you will know that I’m a fan of Maisie. She’s a nickname for Mairead, the Scottish form of Margaret. Her Scottish origins go some way to explaining her fierce popularity in this part of the world, despite Anglo-Scottish relations never being particularly close – and potentially to grow further apart if Alex Salmond gets his way. It’s also worth noting that whilst Maisie ranks at #14 in 2010 in England&Wales, the #15 spot is taken my sound sister Daisy.

Poppy

Thinking about it, I hardly ever see this name discussed along the likes of Rose, Clementine and Lily and that could be because she’s nowhere to be seen in the States. I checked, too, and she hasn’t been in the Top 1000 at all in the past 100 years, although she was given to 118 girls in 2010. I’m also quite surprised I’ve never really looked in depth at Poppy, because she is a personal favourite of mine – alongside plenty of other P- names including, but not exclusive to fellow floral names Primrose and Peony.

As a possibly source of her success, I’ve had plenty of friends and acquaintances tell me that should they have a daughter in November, they’d name her Poppy, as a reference to the annual Poppy Appeal which runs from October-time to Remembrance day; It’s run by The Royal British Legion. My local bus service has started adorning their fleet with poppies in the last year or two. I know last year that there was a stand-off between Fifa and the England squad when their plan to wear a new-design shirt featuring the poppy in their match against Spain was met with a ban from Fifa. In the end a compromise of an armband featuring a poppy was reached. It did, however, cause widespread outrage which just shows how highly the imagery of the poppy is held.

Imogen

I first came across this name about 6 years ago on a six year old, and it was said aloud before I heard it said. My first thought was wow, her parents named her imagine, that’s really sweet. It’s a simple mistake, and her creation came from one: Shakespeare intended on calling his character in Cymbeline, Innogen, not Imogen until a mistake in the printing occured – altering her name to Imogen and as thus she remained unchanged back to her intended form. It’s likely that the name means maiden and she ranked at #26 in England&Wales in 2010.

Isla

I do like how this name sounds, although some are troubled by her usual spelling – wanting to sound the s when she should remain silent. One can only hope that the high profile of actress Isla Fisher will lead to increased awareness of how to saw her name, not that this worked with Harry Potter. The name Isla derives from the name of a Scottish island – Islay, which is pronounced the same as Isla. An interesting tidbit is that Behind the Name considers Islay a male name. That makes Isla, in theory, part of a growing band of place names you never realised you were using. She therefore joins the ranks of Sofia and Stanley. Isla also happens to be the Spanish word for island and she ranked at #22 in England&Wales in 2010.

Eliza

I’m not a particular fan of Beth – despite having two lovely workmates with the name; both are just Beth. It therefore figures that I should have a slight preference for Eliza over Elizabeth, but I find myself non-the-bothered. Going back to the previous name, I recently over heard a lady considering the idea of naming her soon-to-be-born daughter Elizabeth – but then using the nickname Isla. Looking at the letters of Elizabeth, it definitely works and thus the pool of Elizabeth diminutives grows. Speaking of them, there’s a great little Name Challenge over at Upswing Baby Names this week concerning offshoots of Elizabeth. The name Elizabeth means my God is an oath and Eliza ranked at #93 in England&Wales in 2010 (Elizabeth at #49).

Climbing Females

We’re following on from yesterday’s post, but this time we’re talking about the five names I think have a chance of hitting the Top 100 by 2014.

1. Bella

Currently at #104, and easily one of the names with the best chances thanks to Twilight. She’s a nickname as many popular names are these days.

2. Elsie

Slightly cutesy like many Top 100 names such as Maisie and Lexie, so I can see why this name is catching on  -and more so than you may think. In 2010, the name Elsie ranked at #108. Consider this: Elsie was at #124 in 2009.

3. Darcy

It breaks my heart to write this, but Darcy is seriously popular for girls. Aside from the spelling of Darcy at #115, there’s also Darcey right behind her at #126. It’s rumoured that the ballerina Darcey Bussell is in line to join the judges on Strictly Come Dancing, which will heighten the profile of this name more – not that it really needs it!

4. Beatrice

She rose from #126 to #116 between 2009-2010 and is the darling of many.

5. Eloise

This name has risen into and fallen out of the Top 100 twice since 2000, so I’ve no idea where this name will go next from her 2010 ranking of #109.

And now onto the #1 spot. I’ve been thinking about this quite a bit of late, and have thus picked out 3 names I think have a chance of taking over from Olivia:

1. Lily

It’s reported repeatedly that it alternative spellings counted, then Lily would have taken the top spot years ago. This is why despite ranking at #4, she’s my best bet.

2. Sophie

My sister’s name and also a previous #1 back in the late 90s. She surprised me by rising 5 places to #2 between 2009-2010, but she’s clearly a keeper as parents continue to use her in their droves. Something Sophie has over Lily is a greater lack of popular alternative spellings – although Sophia is currently at #20. In many places around the world, Sophie has already taken the #1 spot, and there are mumblings that Sophia could go top in the States.

3. Maisie

Probably the name I like the most out of the three, but she also currently ranks the lowest at #14. The reason she’s here is because she’s rising fast – up 20 places between 2009-2010.

Maude

from eerdmans.com

I mentioned Maisie yesterday and today we’re talking about Maude. Why ever for? Because I know of sisters named Maisie, Maude and Mollie. It certainly seems odd at first that these three names come together as names for three sisters, but if you shake off first impressions and really think about it, there are similarities between the names.

First off, the most obvious link is that all three begin with the letter M, all are 5/6 letters long and all have 1/2 syllables. That may even be why these names ended up together in the first place. It’s also worth noting at this point that the birth order is: Maude, Mollie and Maisie – and it’s not Maude who has the different father, but Maisie. It feels like a good time to mention a few other similar M- names that could sit alongside the existing three:

Mabel; Maddie; Maeve; Magda; Maggie; Mandy; Marcie; Margot; Marie/Maria; Maris; Mavis; Megan; Myrtle

Whilst Maisie and Mollie are relatively popular, the name Maude is only enjoying relative popularity in her extended family: there are currently two forms of Madison in the England&Wales Top 100 and Matilda is also in amongst the top flight as well as her short form of Tilly.

The name Matilda comes from the Germanic name Mathilidis, which means strength in battle. It seems apt therefore that a famed Matilda in British history is Empress Matilda, who spent many year fighing King Stephen for the crown. Matilda was the daughter of Henry I, and indeed was his heir following the death of her only brother, William, in the White Ship disaster of 1120. She was never crowned, however, and it was her cousin Stephen of Blois who is usually named as the King between 1135-1154. Their rivalry for the throne led to many years of unrest and civil war in England now know as The Anarchy.

Matilda herself was sometimes recorded as being name Maude and her mother was Matilda of Scotland, who was actually born as an Edith. The godmother of Matilda of Scotland was Queen Matilda – wife of William the Conqueror, and when Matilda of Scotland was crowned, it was as Matilda. It is widely accepted that the Normans brought the name Matilda to England with them.

The name Maude is a medieval short form of the name Matilda, and for many years the names were interchangeable – such as with the aformentioned Matilda’s often being known as Maude instead.

The name Maude remained popular until circa the 14th century in England, but usually used with the slight variant spelling of Maud. After this time the name died out somewhat, but was revived by the Victorians. It was in this time that Alfred Lord Tennyson penned a collection of poems entitled Maud. Tennyson also helped boost the popular of the name Elaine and Ida, thanks to his writings and he penned also first the name Lynette as an alternative spelling of Luned, which itself is a varient of the Welsh name Eluned.

In terms of popularity, a table is in order for all of the mentioned related names. Here wer’re comparing data from 2005 and 2010, both for England&Wales:

	2005		2010
	Rank	Births	Rank	Births
Maddison	#63	899	#81	734
Madison	#39	1556	#67	926
Maisie	#58	949	#14	2930
Maisy	#157	329	#100	584
Mathilde	#851	33	#1520	19
Matilda	#89	620	#53	1274
Maud	#2247	9	#2589	9
Maude	#3970	4	#5707	3
Mollie	#81	668	#117	490
Molly	#22	2355	#42	1454
Tillie	#516	66	#431	98
Tilly	#95	557	#88	677

A breakdown of the movement of the names works out as such, with the highest climbers/fallers at the top and working down:

Rise		Fall
Rank	Birth	Rank	Birth
Tillie (+85)	Maisie (+1981)	Maude (-1737)	Molly (-901)
Maisy (+57)	Matilda (+654)	Mathilde (-669)	Madison (-630)
Maisie (+44)	Maisy (+255)	Maud (-342)	Mollie (-178)
Matilda (+36)	Tilly (+120)	Mollie (-36)	Maddison (-165)
Tilly (+7)	Tillie (+32)	Madison (-28)	Mathilde (-14)
		Molly (-20)	Maude (-1)
		Maddison (-18)

The name Maud did not change when it came to birth numbers. I normally give both ranking and the number of births to give the full picture of where the name is going – since one of them just doesn’t give the full picture. If you take the case of Maud, from the ranks you may deduce that she’s falling out of popularity given that she fell 342 places between 2005 and 2010 – but the same amount of them were born in each year. It’s only because of the changing number of births each year that Maud received a different ranking in each list. However, observe the table and you’ll see that if the name fell in rank, it also fell in birth number (aside from Maud). So, you could indeed infer from the data that those names on the left-hand side of the table are growing in popularity whilst the ones on the right-hand side are falling in popularity.

What does this say to me? Well, first of all, a five-year comparison may not take in the whole picture of movement. A name can move fast in those years, but most take many years to really grow in favour or fall out of favour. In short though, neither Maud nor Maude are popular by any means, and whilst they may start to become popular it will likely take a few years for her to really rise up the rankings. On the flipside, in the next five years Maisie could easily start to fall – she’s already inside the Top 20 and may have peaked in popularity. I do think Maisie is a future Top 10 name, though.

Seeing the name Maude alongside current favourites such as Maisie makes me reconsider her potential. Whilst writing this post I’ve been think about the combination of Maude Eulalie, now I don’t really suggest combinations as a rule but Maude Eulalie has me tickled. The light, freshness of Eulalie combined with the solid, classic Maude really rather makes me smile.

Oui, mais Maisie est…

Maisy Mouse, from walker.co.uk

I love the name Maisie, for a variety of reasons, and despite not being a fan by any means of similar-sounding sister Daisy. Mais also happens to be one of my favourite French words – it means but. I remember a French teacher of mine trying to coax us out of the standard ‘oui, mais’ response when engaged in a debate.

Maisie does originally derive as a nickname – she’s one of the many Margaret offshoots, along with the aformentioned Daisy. Strictly speaking, she comes from Margaret’s Scottish form of Mairead. However, I had my mind on another name the other day, and realised she too could shorten to Maisie – fantastic! And thus I went in search of more:

Anastasie –

I’m suggesting this name on what I shall dub the Bob-principle, that is, whereby Bob evolved as a nickname for Robert as a slight alteration of his short form – Rob. Plenty of Anastasia/e’s are likely known as Stasie, which rhymes with Maisie, unless you re-jig things to make Stasie sound just like Stacy. The name Anastasia comes from the Greek anastasis which means resurrection.

Artemis/Artemisia –

Maisie is composed of 5 different letters, all of which make a slightly jumbled up appearance in the name Artemis. Shortening Artemis to Maisie rather tickles me somewhat, given that as a child I was confused about the gender of Artemis thanks to Eoin Cowlfer, but Maisie is, frankly, all-girl. Artemis is the Greek Goddess of the moon and hunting and she had a twin brother named Apollo.

Jessamine –

The same 5 letters make yet another appearance in a name belonging to a completely different style of names, and this one certainly feels more-girl to me than Artemis, but that’s probably more down to personal opinion than anything else. I don’t think shortening this name to Maisie feels completely natural to me – Jessie probably takes that honour – but it remains another option one could further explore. Jessamine herself evolved as a variant of the name Jasmine, another name which also exists as a possibility but she has the same number of syllables as Maisie, which always makes me question the worth of the nickname.

Mazarine –

The name that inspired this post. I stumbled across the name Mazarine about a fortnight ago, and she’s remained on my mind ever since. I recognise that I like her as a name, but couldn’t imagine myself not shortening her to something, so have been dedicating time to exploring the options. Maze was certainly one thought, as were Rin, Azure and Ari. The Azure thought certainly tickled me, since Azure is a shade of blue – and so is Mazarine.

Melissa –

Hello once more to our favourite 5 letters. Like Jessamine, this name doesn’t easily lend itself to the nickname of Maisie, so little Melissa may well end up as a Mel despite your protests. It is a great, if even modern, take on Melissa – as she’s a name one would more likely associate with children of a previous decade, but given that Maisie is certainly enjoying peak popularity right now, she’s certainly a name one would more likely associate with today’s children. I do love the meaning of Melissa – honeybee.

Rosemarie/Rosemary –

There are plenty of short forms for Rosemary – Romy, Rosie, Marie etc. so there’s plenty of competition if you wish to view it as such. If you think about it, the names Mary and Maisie are pretty similar sounding. There’s also a herb called Rosemary, whose name means dew of the sea. Also, if you switch Rose and Mary you get Mary Rose, the name of Henry VIII’s prized warship for which the common explanation for the name is that is was named after the Tudor Rose and Henry VIII’s sister Mary. It’s currently on display in Portsmouth after being salvaged in the 1980s.

Thomasina/ Jamesina

A last minute brainwave of mine was Thomasina, and one I’m reasonably proud of. I then realised whilst writing about her that the similar name Jamesina could also apply which is why these two have been lumped together as one. Both a feminisations of male names which have never enjoyed the popularity of their male counterparts – Thomas and James were both in the Top 10 for 2010 in England&Wales. I’m probably more of a fan of the name Jamesina than Thomasina, although I’ve met few who’ve liked either which likely explains why neither feature highly in the popularity charts.

Santa Special

Santa Train, via flickr

I’ve spent all weekend handing out presents to excitable small children, and what has to be the biggest pack of Brownies I’ve ever come across in my life. This all adds up to the need for an extra special post to give me a chance to share with you as many names as my poor mind can remember.

That said, this post does comes with the warning that, whilst I know their rough ages due for present-selecting purposes, I can only hazard a guess at the spellings of their names. This is by no means a complete list, rather, a collection of the ones I remembered, and for the sake of simplicity, yes there were many multiples of many of these names, but I’ve forgone this since I can’t give exact numbers on how frequent each names was used, but, the ones I saw time and time again?

• Alfie
• Ben
• Hayden
• Henry
• Lucy
• Isabella
• Joshua
• Ruby

Before unleashing the lists on you, it is worth noting that the children could’ve easily been introducing themselves by their nickname, not their fullname.

Babies

Alfie	James	Olly
Eloise	Nina	Polly
Evie	Meggie	Ruby
Isabella	Maggie	Susanna

1-2

Ace	Cameron	George	Lucy
Aiden	Casper	Hannah	Maisie
Alfie	Charlie	Harry	Nancy
Amy	Che	Henry	Niamh
Archie	Chelsea	Holly	Phoebe
Baxter	Debbie	Isabella	Sally
Bea	Ebony	Isla	Sally
Bella	Eddy	Jack	Sean
Ben	Edward	Jenny	Stanley
Billy	Effie	Liam	Teddy
Bobby	Evan	Lila	Thisbe
Callum	Evie	Lola	William

3-5

Abby	Esther	Jason	Oliver
Abigail	Ethan	Joel	Olivia
Alfie	Eve	Jordan	Olly
Alice	Ewan	Joshua	Oscar
Amelia	Faith	Kian	Owen
Ben	Felix	Lenny	Penny
Bess	Fergus	Leon	Poppy
Betty	Gabby	Lily	Poppy
Bruno	Gabriella	Lola	Ralphie
Cameron	George	Lolly	Riley (m)
Cleo	Hamish	Lucy	Rosie
Coco	Hannah	Luke	Samuel
Daniel	Imogen	Maggie	Summer
Darcy	Isabella	Martha	Summer
Eleanor	Isla	Molly	Tammy
Elise	Jack	Niamh	Tommy
Emily	James	Nora	William

6-8

Alex	Freddie	Joshua	Reuben
Archie	Georgia	Kai	Sam
Ben	Geraldine	Kiefer	Scarlett
Cameron	Greta	Leo	Sophie
Charlie	Hannah	Lexie	Stacy
Charlotte	Harriet	Libby	Summer
Chloe	Hayden	Lily	Teddy
Connor	Isabella	Lucy	Theo
Delphine	Jessica	Margaret	Thomas
Eliza	Jessie	Molly	Verity
Elliott	Jimmy	Noah	Victoria
Elliott	Jimmy	Owen	Wendy
Emily	Joe	Perry	Willa
Erin	Jools	Petra	William
George	Joseph	Rebecca	Zeke

9-10

Bea	Jack	Molly
Becky	Jake	Sarah
Ben	Jessica	Stanley
Erin	Matthew	Thomas
Felicia	Noah	William

10+

Charlotte	Joel	Charlotte
Emily	Joshua	Quinn
Emmy	Matthew	Rowan
Frank	Melody	Winnie
Hattie	Niall	Zach
James	Noor

Name Spot of the Week: Eurovision

Alexander Rybak, 2009 winner, from aardling.com

The Eurovision Song Contest is one of the entertainment highlights of the year for me, although I abstain from getting too tied up with the block voting that’s more or less taken away the competition part of it. What Eurovision is still great for is the names.

A mad fiddler by the name Alexander Rybak from Norway won it in 2009, and ever since I’ve had a name crush on Rybak, and let’s not forget the genius, and mostly gibberish lyrics that was Ukraine’s entry two years before, from Verka Seduchka – and for those who do click and watch his entry, he came 2nd. It’s that kind of competition.

But onto Eurovision 2011, which came with some interesting names, both in the semis and final:

Alexey (Russia) – Known as Alex Sparrow in the International Market.

Amaury (France)

Aske ‘A Friend in London’ (Denmark)

Aurela (Albania)

Axel ‘Paradise Oskar’ (Finland)

Christos (Cyprus)

Dino (Bosnia&Herzegovina)

Verka Seduchka, 2nd Place in 2007, from culch.ie

Duncan ‘Blue’ (United Kingdom)

Edward ‘Jedward’ (Ireland)

Eldar ‘Ell and Nikki’ (Azerbaijan)

Eric Khaled (Sweden)

Esben ‘A Friend in London’ (Denmark)

Getter (Estonia)

Glen (Malta)

Katalin ‘Kati’ (Hungary)

John ‘Jedward’ (Ireland)

Lena (Germany)

Loukas (Greece)

Nina, representing Serbia, from zimbio.com

Magdalena (Poland)

Maja (Slovenia)

Mihai ‘Zdob shi Zdub’ (Moldova)

Mika (Ukraine)

Nigar ‘Ell and Nikki’ (Azerbaijan)

Danica ‘Nina’ (Serbia)

Raffaele ‘Raphael’ (Italy)

Roman ‘Zdob shi Zdub’ (Moldova)

Sebastian ‘A Friend in London’ (Denmark)

Simon ‘Blue’ (United Kingdom)

Jedward, representing Ireland, from eurovisionmania.net

Sophio ‘Eldrine’ (Georgia)

Stella (Norway)

Valeriu ‘Zdob shi Zdub’ (Moldova)

Yuksek (Turkey)

As for elsewhere, I discovered this week that an aquantaince of mine, called Mollie, has two sisters: Maisie and Maude.

My sister Sophie, known to most as Dopey, announced this week that she wants to be called Jaguar, I take comfort from the fact she didn’t say Audi or Renault. She’s also recently aquired the new Jacqueline Wilson book, Lily Alone, which features siblings Lily, Bliss, Baxter and Pixie.

The last note-worthy name spot of the week comes in the form of a champion Irish surfer: Easkey Britton. Her younger sister is called Becky-Finn.