Sibset of the Week: The Deneuves

from wikipedia.org

We’re heading to France for this week’s edition, focusing on a rather renowned French actress by the name of Catherine Deneuve, born Catherine Fabienne Dorléac (she uses her mother’s maiden name professionally). Catherine is possibly best known for her role in Indochine, which won her an Academy Award in 1993.

Catherine herself is the daughter of an actor, Maurice Dorléac to be precise. She also has two siblings, sisters Sylvie and Françoise.

But it’s the names of her children which caught my eye and got me to pull together this post. She has two children, and it’s worth noting that one of them has a Russian father, whilst the other has an Italian father:

Christian Igor Christophe

Chiara Charlotte

Both children have gone on to have families of their own, with Christian having children named Igor and Lou, whilst Chiara has Milo and Anna.

Scrabble Names

The names of the eldest 4 kids of the Dutch couple

It may have been a few weeks since news broke about the Dutch couple with five kids, who all have four-letter names using the same four letters (Alex, Lexa, Axel, Xela & Xael), but it continues to remain at the forefront of my mind.

That said, it can get a little forced with an increased number of children. Below is just a selection of attempts at the conundrum by myself and those over at Formspring, with some combinations seeming to work better than others:

• Aidan: Nadia, Diana, Adian, Andia
• Alice: Celia, Lacie
• Amy: Mya, May
• Dolly: Lloyd, Dyoll, Doyll
• Eden: Dene, Ened, Nede, Need, Ende, Edne
• Enzo: Zeno, Nezo, Ezon, Onez
• Inez: Nezi, Enzi
• Jonah: Onjah, Johan, Johna
• Leah: Hale, Aleh, Elah, Hael
• Leia: Alie, Ilea
• Lena: Nela, Lane
• Leon: Elon, Noel, Nelo
• Leona: Elona, Enola, Laneo, Noela, Neola
• Lia: Ali, Lai, Ila
• Lucas: Claus, Lacus, Calus, Culas
• Lyra: Aryl, Lary, Raly, Alry, Ryla
• Mabel: Belma, Ambel, Embla, Melba
• Milo: Lomi, Moil, Ilmo, Moli, Imli
• Myra: Mary, Ramy, Amry
• Ria: Ira, Rai, Ari, Air
• Vera: Reva, Raev
• Zane: Neza, Ezna, Anez, Azne

Anyone have any further contributions?

Tweenies

The Tweenies from blogger.com

It’s been awhile since I’ve rummaged through the depths of children’s programming. I briefly watched Tweenies myself when it launched in 1998, but quickly grew out of the target audience – but with a sister still inside it I kept watching it throughout it’s run.

The show focuses on four main characters, all between 2-5 years old at the time of the series who attend nursery. Whilst it may not sound like a particularly exciting concept for a show, but it managed to keep my sister entertained for several years. In theory, that means that the characters would’ve been born circa the mid-1990s. It may therefore interest you first of all to know what the four main characters were called, with their 1998/2010 rank in England&Wales:

Bella (#925/#104)

Usually used as a short form of Isabella, and indeed it is the Italian word for beautiful. As you can see, this name has shot up since 1998 – which some attribute to the Twilight effect. The novel itself first hit the shelves in 2005, when Bella was at #438 which confirms my suspicions that the name was moving up prior to the books.

Fizz (no rank/no rank)

English word, in context, if a liquid fizzes, it produces a lot of bubbles. The posh word we chemists like to use instead is effervescence. As a child, I was certain that this was a nickname since even to a much younger, gullible and somewhat impressionable me. In terms of ranking, I’m not surprised to see this name has never ranked – although in 2010 both Fizza and Fizzah made an appearance. The fact that Fizz’s brother was called Gary somewhat supports my childhood theory that Fizz was a nickname for her but since we’ve never been provided with further detail it remains a theory.

Jake (#22/#29)

Either a medieval variant of Jack, or a short form of Jacob. In terms of rankings, the name hasn’t really shifted anywhere far since 1998.

Milo (#244/#164)

Old Germanic form of the name Miles. Often associated with the Latin word miles, meaning soldier. Quite by chance, the name Milo came up yesterday.

Aside from the four main characters, there were a few other interesting names in the mix from peripheral characters, and a special thanks to my sister whose knowledge of The Tweenies remains startling intact. Then again, I discovered this week during a debate with friends that I can still recall where the bus stopped on each weekday on the show Playdays.

Kexin

The name of Jake’s older brother. There’s a Chinese gymnast by the name He Kexin, whose exact age was subject to some controversy during the 2008 Olympics in Beijing. The thing to remember, however, is that Kexin is female – but it is telling that Kexin surfaced on the Tweenies several years before the gymnast made her international début in 2008. I’m pinning my bets on my second cousin Keivan using the name Kexin, following the example of father Kelvin and grandfather Kevin. He is only 3, though, so that day is potentially a long way off. According to Nancy, there were 5 girls born in the US in 2009 named Kexin; I’m rather unsurprised that the name Kexin ranks for neither gender in 2010 in England&Wales.

Mella

The name of Bella’s older sister. As you may have seen above, Bella wasn’t exactly popular back in 1998, never mind Mella. You may like to link it to melle, the Latin word for honey – from which the French received their word for honey: miel. The we have the English word mellow, which isn’t really applicable to the origins of Mella, but is certainly a word I always link it to.

Mitzi

The name of Jake’s mother. Mitzi is the German form of Maria, although my sister has commented that to her the name is Maisie gone German. Whilst that isn’t exactly correct since neither name is related, it does have a social application, i.e. if you like Maisie, but not her popularity, why not consider Mitzi?

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.

Name Spot of the Week: La Haine

Scene from La Haine, from blogger.com

I’ve been watching a few french films of late, and there was one which really caught my attention. Yesterday I watched a film called La Haine, which is about life in the banlieu – basically the French equivalents of housing estates. In came out in the late 90s, several years before there were quite violent riots in France in 2005 – sparked by the accidental deaths of two teenagers whilst being chased by the police.

A few names from the film which stood out for me were:

Astérix (nickname)

Cassel (surname of one of the actors)

Choukri (actor)

Hubert – The t is silent when the French say this name, and for me that really makes me reconsider the name.

Mathieu (director)

Magimel (surname of one of the actors)

Médard

Rywka  (actress)

Saïd

Vincent ‘Vinz’

Other names vaguely related to the film are:

Cécile – Half sister of Vincent Cassel. He played one of the main characters.

Chanteloupe – The majority of the filming took place in an area called Chanteloupe-les-Vignes.

Deva and Léonie – The name of Vincent Cassel’s daughters. He played one of the main characters.

Makome – His death helped inspire the film.

Elsewhere, the frontman for Spandau Ballet, Gary Kemp, recently welcomed his fourth son: Rex Albert. He joins brothers Finlay Munro, Milo Wolf and Kit Frank.

 

Sibset of the Week: The Amroliwalas

Today’s father outside 10 Downing Street, from tvnewsroom.co.uk

The BBC News channel is my go-to channel for when I’m in the sitting room on my own, especially when I’m busy doing something else as it’s something one can tune in and out of. I am a huge supporter of the BBC in general, not least because they don’t screen adverts as they’re supported by the licence fee, which you are obliged to pay if you own a TV. This means programs run as intended, rather than being interupted every 10 minutes or so, to the point of ridiculous you get with X Factor nowadays.

Matthew Amroliwala works as a reporter/anchor for the BBC, and has four delightfully-named children:

Milo

Mabel

Mary

Louis

Isn’t is startlingly refreshing to see a young ‘un wear the name Mary? Infact, this sibset does have a whiff of days gone by to it, although both Mabel and Milo are rising in popularity, whilst Louis is already there.

20 ‘O’ Names

Currently, a trendy suffix is ‘o’, so in this post I present to you some lovely ‘o’ boys names, some of which you may have heard of, others you won’t.

Amadeo

– Italian meaning lover of God.

Aurelio

– Italian variation of Aurelius, meaning Golden One.

Bruno

– German name meaning brown. Popular throughout Europe, currently #861 in the US.

Claudio

– Italian from Latin meaning lame. Featured in two Shakespeare plays, Much Ado About Nothing and Measure For Measure.

Cosmo

– Greek name meaning universe. The youth of today will likely associate the name with the ditzy, yet lovable character from Fairly Odd Parents.

Diego

– Spanish variaton of James, currently enjoying some popularity, placing it at #75. Dora the Explorer’s cousin is a bearer.

Hugo

– English parents will likely associate this name with bumbling Hugo from cult comedy show Vicar of Dibley. It’s a German name meaning mind, intellect, and currently sits at #409.

Indio

– Not only benefitting form the ‘o’ trend, but also the name trend of place names. Indio is the name of a Californian desert town.

Ivo

– German name meaning yew wood, archer. This is a more energetic name than Ivor.

Jethro

– Hebrew name meaning preeminence. It was also the name of Moses’ father-in-law.

Leo

– This name has Latin origins and means lion. Currently #209.

Mateo

– Spanish variation of Matthew that means gift of God. #229.

Milo

– German name meaning mind, peaceful, calm. #451.

Navarro

– Spanish name meaning from Navarre. It’s also a  surname in the Basque Kingdom, helping it appeal the surname trend as well as the place name one.

Nico

– Greek name, can either stand alone or be a nickname for a Nico- name, such as Nicolo, Nicodemus or maybe even Nicholas. Thus, this name’s popularity could be helped along be appealing the the nickname trend. #585.

Orlando

– Italian version of Roland, and means famous throughout the land. British actor Orlando Bloom shows this name isn’t necessarily for Italians only. Used by Shakespeare, and is currently # 410.

Pablo

– Spanish variation of Paul. Artist Picasso was a famous bearer. #344.

Pedro

– Spanish variation of Peter, and currently not far behind in popularity at #268 (Peter is at #191)

Reno

– Not only a cute moniker, but also the name of a town associated with gambling. That never stopped place names such as Rio, though.

Taddeo

– Charming Italian version of Thaddeus. Personally, this version looks to have more youth than the first.

Names Tipped For Stardom

What names are looking like they might explode over the coming years.

Well, one of the major factors in a names popularity depends on the current trend in names. For female names at the moment, people are choosing between the girly (Isabella, Ava) and the not-so-girly (Harper, Finley). Currently, it’s the girly names that dominate the top spots. But, could all that change? As for boys, well, there are names that are consistently in the top spots each year (James, Matthew) and then there are the wildcards (Aiden) that appear due to a sudden preference for that name.

What characteristics will place a name in a likely position for a comeback? Well, if the name is similar to another popular name (Such as how Maribelle is similar to Isabella) it will begin to rise in the name charts, as parents who love the top name look for alternatives.

Another is that of names that have been unpopular for decades, and are beginning to look much more appealling nowadays to parents. These are names such as John and Mary. These names were once top spot names; they have since fallen very much down the name charts. Does this place them in favour for a comeback?

Also, sounds are very important in name, especially for girls. We like how Sophia sounds, so will that mean we’ll begin to like Sylvia soon too? We love Jack and Jacob, so will this mean we’ll start to go crazy about Jake too?

So, here are a list of names I believe are poised to become popular:

Eve, an alternative to Ava and Eva. It has biblical roots, which could help for when people start to turn from the made-up names towards more traditional names once more.

Amelia, it’s similarity to top names Emma and Emily mean it’s bound to start climbing. Amelia is already in the top 20 in Europe, and European trends tend to be a few years ahead of American ones this name looks set to storm the USA.

Violet, Floral names such as Lily are popular, and this name is certainly enjoying more popularity than before.

Lila, the two ‘l’s make it a perfect replacement for Ella. It’s also similar to Lily, another name currently big in Europe.

Verity. We love Grace at the moment. Could this be its successor?

Ivy, another floral name.

Nancy and Wendy. Old-school favourites. Perhaps ready to make a comeback?

Sylvia or Sylvie. Both similar sounding to current favourite Sophia.

Ruby, like Amelia, this name in hot in Europe at the moment.

Leonie, a hot favourite in Germany, could this name’s popularity spread?

Matilda, this name has a lot going for it. It can be shortened to either a boyish nickname such as Mattie, or a girly one such as Tilly.

Harper and Scout. The novel ‘To Kill a Mockingbird’ could help boost both these names. These names are both part of the trend of giving girls more boyish names, and the literary association can only boost their popularity further.

Camden, it’s similarity to Charles and Charlie may place it in a good spot to become their replacement. It’s also a place name.

Milo, could the ‘o’ ending place this name in favour? The similar sounding name Leo has recently started to climb, will the same happen for this name?

Theodore, this name has been low for a few years now, it’s nickname of ‘Theo’ means that this name has the potential to start climbing.

Xavier. The ‘x’ at the start of this name gives it a rather unique feel to it. Names such as Felix and Max are climbing, perhaps due to their ending of ‘x’, so Xavier should start rising as well soon.

Ryder and River. Ryder is a surname that has started to leap up the name charts for boys, as names such as Harper and Sawyer start to drift towards becoming feminine, this puts Ryder in a good position to replace them. River is a name with links to the natural world, as the world’s population face Climate Change, people are starting to become more ‘in-tune’ with the world around them. Could this translate into names?

Kai. It has roots in many cultures, and as people are more likely to have a partner of another race due to the surge in movement of people between countries, its likely that names that appeal to many cultures will become more popular.