Sibset of the Week: The Dahls

Roald Dahl, via hollowverse.com

Some time in my primary school years, we went to watch a play adaptation of George’s Marvellous Medicine after reading it in class. I remember being enraptured by it and like many children before me, became a fan of author Roald Dahl. It makes sense, of course, for Roald Dahl to feature prominently in school libraries across Britain, given that he is considered by some to be one of the greatest storytellers for children of the 20th century. It is, of course, by pure accident and happy fate that this is the third week in a row to feature a prominent wordsmith from Britain.

Dahl married American actress Patricia Neal in 1953, and in their 30 years of marriage welcomed 5 children:

Olivia Twenty

Chantal Sophia ‘Tessa’

Theo Matthew

Ophelia Magdalena

Lucy Neal

It’s a fairly interesting collection of names, part of me wonders the tale of how Tessa evolved as a nickname for Chantal. I also couldn’t help but note that for children born in the 1950s and 60s, the names could easily be transferred to a 2010s set of children. Theo has rocketed to #41 in the past 10 years, with Ophelia also rising to #306 in 2013. The name Olivia spent 3 years at #1 from 2008, and is currently at #2, whilst Lucy has been hanging in the Top 30 since 1996. The only name to buck this trend is Chantal, who experienced popularity in the 1990s, but fails to rank at all anymore.

This ahead of the curve naming was continued by Tessa Dahl, who named a daughter Clover in the mid-1980s, a name which has only consistently been ranking in England&Wales since 2004 (albeit only about 12 girls receive the name each year at the moment). Clover is sister the Sophie, Luke and Ned.

Sophie Dahl is these days a well known cookery writer who married jazz singer Jamie Cullum in 2010 and has two daughters: Lyra and Margot.

5 Super Cool Theo Names (But Not Theodore)

Growing up, I knew of a guy named Matt my age. Interestingly, he was always referred to as Matt, and I always assumed that Matt was short for Matthew.

Turns out his name was Matthias, and I was none the wiser for this.

I also knew a Theo, but I’m pretty certain that his name is just Theo, not Theodore. This train of thought took on a life of it’s own after a brief conversation with a French friend the other day, who during the course of this aforementioned conversation mentioned the psychologist Théodule Ribot.

I love the name Theodore as much as the next person, and indeed the same can be said for Theo, but it’s fun to look at some other names which could give rise to the nickname Theo.

The name Theodore comes of Greek origins and means gift of God. He’s relatively popular in England&Wales, having ranked at #124 in 2011 – but you’re more likely to meet a baby Theo than Theodore these days as Theo ranks higher at #50.

1. Théodule

The top name since he inspired this post, and as you might guess from the accent, is used in the French-speaking word, deriving from Greek and meaning slave of God.

2. Theodoric

Unlike the name above, this one has no connections to either Greece or France, instead being of Germanic origins and meaning ruler of the people.

3. Theodotus

This name does come from Greek, and means given to God. Notable for belonging to a handful of early saints and martyrs, but this hasn’t transferred into him being a popular name for the modern child.

4. Theophanes

Another name of Greek origin, this one means manifestation of God. We have both a 14th century Greek painter and an 8th century saint.

5. Theokleia

This is one for the girls, said either thee-oh-KLAY-ah or teh-oh-KLEH-ah. She also comes from Greek, meaning glory of God. An alternative version of the name is Thekla.

Weekend Post: Euros 2012 Finds

I’m in the sports mood, given that I was busy taking in the sights and sounds of Silverstone yesterday, indeed, the pit garages look awfully empty en ce moment – just imagine how crammed they’ll be in just a fortnights time!

2 weeks to the British GP!

There’s also the Euros still going on as is the racing at Ascot, and I’m pretty sure Wimbledon kicks off next week since the weatherman in the background just gave the weather conditions for Wimbledon next week.

Given that I’ve mentioned the Euro Finals several times of late, it seems only fair to give you a tour through some of the more notable names of players in the teams contesting the title.

Alba – One of the current players for Spain is Jordi Alba.

Alou – Midfielder Alou Diarra is representing France.

Ashley – There are two Ashleys on the England team – Ashley Cole and Ashley Young.

Bastian – Bastian Schweinsteiger of Germany is being tooted as one of the best players in the entire Euros tournament

Evra – The name of one of France’s defenders, Fabrice Evra.

Florent – The first name of Malouda, midfielder for France.

Glen – The first name of England’s defender, Johnson.

Hélder – Hélder Postiga is a striker for Portugal.

Holger – The first name of Badstuber, who plays defender for Germany – the emerging favourites for the Euro 2012 crown.

Howard – Englishman Howard Webbe has refereed games for Euro 2012.

Iker – Spain’s current goalie and captain is Iker Casillas.

Ivan – There are three Ivans on the Croatia team – Rakitic, Strinic and Perišic

Joleon – One of England’s centre-backs is Joleon Lescott.

Kassai – The referee for the Spain vs. Italy and the England vs. Ukraine game was Hungarian Viktor Kassai

Kostas – Three members of Greece’s team bear this name: Chalkias, the goalie; Katsouranis, the centre midfielder;

Kyriakos – One of Greece’s central defenders is Kyriakos Papadopoulos.

Lasse – The first name of Schøne, midfielder for Denmark

Ludovic – Attacking midfielder Ludovic Obraniak is representing Poland.

Łukasz  – Piszczek is one of Poland’s right backs.

Maggio – One of Italy’s wing backs is Christian Maggio.

Mesut – Turkish-German Mesut Özil is one of Germany’s attacking midfielders.

Mexès – Defender Philippe Mexès is representing France.

Milan – Winger Milan Petržela is representing the Czech Republic.

Nasri – Midfielder Samir Nasri is representing France.

Nikica – One of Croatia’s centre forwards is Nikica Jelavic.

Ola – The professional first name (really his middle name, Nils is his first name) of Toivonen, striker for Sweden.

Persie – Robin van Persie is one of the strikers for The Netherlands

Rami – Centre back Adil Rami is representing France.

Rasmus – The first name of Elm, midfielder for Sweden.

Réveillère – Defender Anthony Réveillère is representing France.

Ribéry – Left-winger Franck Ribéry is representing France.

Rui  – The goalie for Portugal is Rui Patrício.

Ruslan – The first name of Rotan, midfielder for Ukraine.

Rybus – One of Poland’s midfielder is Maciej Rybus.

Shay – The goalie for Ireland is Shay Given.

Slaven – The manager of Croatic is Slaven Bilic.

Sokratis – Centre back for Greece Papastathopoulos’s first name is Sokratis.

Theo – Inspired substitute during England’s game with Sweden, Theo Walcott plays in midfield and is just Theo, not Theodore.

Thiago – Central Midfielder Thiago Motta is representing Italy.

Valbuena – Midfielder Mathieu Valbuena is representing France.

Vyacheslav – The first name of Malafeev, the goalie for Russia.

Wesley – The first name of Sneijder, one of the midfielders on The Netherland’s team

Xabier ‘Xabi’ – the sole scorer in the Spain v. France match was Xabi Alonso.

Zlatan – The first name of Ibrahimovic, striker for Sweden.

Sibset of the Week: The Zidanes

Zinedine Zidane in action, from qoo6.com

Last week we covered the names of a English footballing family, not it’s time to look at a French one from which I’ve mentioned the eldest child’s names a few times. Zinedine Zidane is considered to be one of the greatest players of all time, and was part of France’s 1998 World Cup winning side. He retired from football following the 2006 World Cup effort, when he was sent off during the final against Italy for headbutting an Italian player.

With his wife, Véronique, he has four sons born between 1995 and 2005:

Enzo

Luca

Theo

Elyaz

I think out of all four names, Elyaz is the only one which hasn’t really made much of an impact in terms of popularity. The three elder lads all play in youth teams for Real Madrid, so could in theory become bigger player on the international circuit in the future.

Babies in the early ’90s

Let’s number-crunch. Courtesy of my sister, I got my hands on the class lists for her year (grade) at school. The names totalled around 150, and when we factor in the sixth form class list, who are two years older, we have a reasonably sized data covering popular baby names for catholics (catholic school) in England in the early 1990s:

British Babies Born Circa 1990-1994

BOYS – ALPHABETICALLY

Aidan +Aiden

Alexander x3 +Alistair +Alisdair

Andrew x2

Ashley x2

Benjamin x2 +Ben

Bryn +Finn

Christopher x2

Connor +Conor

David x4

Hugo +Hugh +Huw

Jack x5

Jacob +Jakub

James x7

John +Jonathan

Joseph x7 +Joe

Joshua x2

Frederick + Freddie

Matthew x2 +Matteaus

Michael x4

Ryan x2

Theodore +Theo

Thomas x7

William x2 +Liam x2

BOYS – NUMERICALLY (3 or more)

Joseph et al = 8

James = 7

Thomas = 7

Daniel = 6

Alexander et al = 5

Jack = 5

Michael = 4

William et al = 4

Benjamin et al = 3

Hugo et al = 3

Matthew et al = 3

GIRLS – ALPHABETICALLY

Alexandra x2 +Alexa

Alice x2 +Alicia

Amy x2

Ana + Anne +Joanne +Leanne +Rhian +Roxanne

Beatrice +Beatrix x2

Cara +Clare +Clara

Caroline +Karolina

Chloe x3

Eleanor x3 +Ellen x2 +Helen x2 +Helena

Elizabeth +Eliza

Emma x2 +Emily

Esther +Esme

Eugenie x2

Frances x2

Hannah x2

Hayley x2

Jennifer x3

Jessica x3

Kathryn +Catherine +Katie x2

Laura x5 +Lauren

Lucy x4

Lily x2 +Lila +Lillian +Lilia

Maria x2 +Marie

Molly +Mollie

Natasha +Sasha x2

Olivia x3

Sarah +Sara

Sophie x3

Vanessa x2

GIRLS – NUMERICALLY (3 or more)

Eleanor et al = 8

Ana et al = 6

Lily et al =5

Kathryn et al = 4

Lucy = 4

Alexandra et al = 3

Beatrice et al = 3

Cara et al = 3

Chloe = 3

Emma et al = 3

Jennifer = 3

Jessica = 3

Natasha et al = 3

Olivia = 3

Philippa = 3

Sophie = 3

MALE/FEMALE

Daniel x6 +Danielle

George x2 +Georgina

Harry +Hattie +Harriet

Phillip +Philippa x3

Valentino +Valentina

THE IRISH GANG

Sean x2 +Shaun +Sian

Sinead +Seamus +Roisin +Bronagh +Lorcan +Ciara x2 +Niall

Patrick x2

THE NOTABLES

The prevalence of Irish names is not taken as uncommon in a catholic school.

Jack was outnumbered by several names: Joseph, James and Thomas. He began his stay at the top of the UK Top 100 list at the end of the decade. Two of the Jacks had the same surname.

Both of the Ashley’s, born when America embraced the name as a female one, were male.

The Eugenie’s were born just after Princess Eugenie, and the Beatrice/trixes born after Princess Eugenie’s sister: Princess Beatrice.

Non of the Lucy’s were a Lucille, Lucienne etc. They were all just Lucy.

The Emma’s outnumbered the Emily.

From personal knowledge:

-None of the Philippa’s in the list shortens their name to Pippa.

-All of the Eleanor’s were nicknamed Ellie.

* In the interests of not boring you all to death with an endless list of data, any name on the class lists which appeared once, without a similar name has been omitted from the data. This accounts for around 30 names out of the roughly estimated 240 names.