5 Alternatives to Poppy

from bbc.co.uk

Last week we talked about alternatives for Archie, and this week we’re back to talk about another Top 100 name: Poppy.

It’s a good time to talk about Poppy, because the annual Poppy Appeal by the Royal British Legion kicks off in late October time and until mid-November you really can’t look left nor right without seeing someone sporting a familiar red flower.

Aside from the appeal, it’s really not hard to see why we here in England love the name Poppy, she has the cutesy feel that everyone seems to love these days, but unlike many other popular names isn’t strictly a nickname.

I don’t really see the perceived cuteness as a bad thing, since Poppy has been fairly popular for a few years now (hey, she was at #92 back in 1996), so much so that I know several Poppys my age and above.

Can I imagine a name like Poppy on someone over the age of 30?

Why yes, yes I can.

Of course, one of the big issues with finding alternatives to Poppy is that everyone has already thought of all the obvious choices; names like Lily, Maisie, Ruby and Rosie are all in the England&Wales Top 100, so are automatically disqualified from the list.

However, I persevered and finally managed to come up with a list of 5 names, with several other names narrowly missing the cut. The names picked out were mostly chosen for having a similar feel to Poppy, which is of course highly subjective so feel free to disagree with me if you so choose.

1. Petal

Chef Jamie Oliver has four children, called Poppy, Daisy, Petal and Buddy. The name Petal sticks with the almost-cutesy floral feel of Poppy, and again she isn’t strictly a nickname.

Unlike Poppy however, Petal is a borderline rarity at #5785, with only 3 girls given the name in England&Wales in 2011.

2. Posy

Posy is an interesting name because she can be a short form of Josephine, but at the same time the word posy relates to a bunch of flowers, thus we get back to the floral but not [quite] a nickname brief. There are also the alternative spellings of Posey and Poesy, but only Posy ranks, at #4764 with 4 girls being given the name.

3. Penny

Penny is in the same bag as Posy, as she is undoubtedly a popular nickname for Penelope. Like Posy, however, there does also exist a word penny, which is slang for 1 pence pieces here in the UK.

Penny is one of the more popular names on the list at #398, with a total of 115 girls given the name in 2011.

4. Perry

And now time for something different, as Perry has a slight unisex vibe which leaves her with a little less in the cuteness stakes. Here in the UK, we do have a famous female with the name: Perri Shakes-Drayton, a hurdler for Team GB during London 2012. If you’re still rockin’ the Olympics vibe, she’s a lovely option to consider. Especially if you’re looking for a name that does not rank.

5. Peggy

So old she’s fresh? Potentially, and it’s that potential that helped Peggy claim the final spot on this list. I can remember back to when I was little and the show to watch was Playdays, which featured a puppet called Peggy. The name ranked at #1043 in 2011, with 33 girls given the name.

To end, a few honourable mentions go out to: Sosie; Sunny; Darcey; Bonnie; Kitty; Sunday; Connie and Lottie.

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: 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.