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?

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?

Horrid Henry

One of the first Horrid Henry books, from scholastic.co.uk

I still have a slight penchant for young children’s books, I don’t read them per se, but they’re always great for a quick through when one’s waiting for someone and time is short, or, and I may be in the minority on this one, but I always like to challenge myself to see how many things I can get done in the time it takes for the microwave to ping – and today’s activity in the 3 minutes I had was to flick through a Horrid Henry.

Created by Francesca Simons and illustrated by Tony Ross these beauties first hit the shelves in 1994 – meaning that I was amongst the first small children of Britain to become familiar with the story – especially when a TV series followed. The book I flicked through today happened to be one of my old copies that I gifted to my sister several years ago. If that wasn’t enough, a live-action version hit cinemas in July 2011 – but I’ve yet to go and see it.

The premise of the books is startlingly simple: Henry is a young boy who isn’t particularly nice. I like to think of him as a younger version of Sid from the first Toy Story film, you know, the one who taped Buzz to a firework?

Either way, there’s a wonderful selection of names mostly of a British vein to look through from the books in question, although they are all stylised the same was as Horrid Henry:

(Fiery) Fiona, often taken as the feminine form of the name Fionn, which means fair.

(Goody Goody) Gordon (friend of Peter), commonly believed to mean great fort, although there are other theories.

(Great Aunt) Greta, a diminutive of Margaret. This character believes Henry is actually called Henrietta.

(Magic) Martha, derives from the Aramaic and means lady.

(Perfect) Peter (Henry’s younger brother), derives from Greek and means rock/stone.

(Prissy) Polly, derived as a nickname for Mary.

(Rude) Ralph (friend of Henry), from Old Norse meaning wolf counsel.

(Singing) Soraya (class-mate of Henry), an Arabic name meaning the Pleiades.

(Vomiting) Vera (baby cousin of Henry), means faith in Russian, also associated with the Latin verus, meaning true.

(Vain) Violet, the name of a colour and a flower.

Homestyle Names

Nothing is more homely than a good brew, snapped by me in Covent Garden.

Not content with having a gazillion different blogs to read new posts on a regular basis, I’ve recently taken a delve into vlogs as well.

One video that really caught my eye was by littlelunaful, who is a northern lass a few years younger than me. She talked about what she described as homestyle names, defining them as being comforting, familiar, informal and simple. I must say I found myself really liking some of the names she placed in this category. The names she selected for her list included:

Girls:

Bonnie

Celia

Cora

Effie

Kitty

Lottie

Nina

Tilly

Vera

Willa

Boys:

Cal

Clay

Cy

Cyrus

Eli

Grady/Gradie

Leo

Admittedly, I found the male names a more eclectic list than the female one, but it’s a good collection of names nevertheless. Of course, I couldn’t resist coming up with my own ideas of names which one could consider homestyle:

Alice

Connie

Hattie

Molly

Petal

Poppy

Susie

Freddie

George

James/Jamie – Jimmy?

Jools/Jules

Rupert

Sid

Anyone care to suggest others?

Name Spot of the Week: London

The Olympic Rings at St. Pancras station, London. I found out last week that I managed to get two tickets in the 2012 draw 🙂

As you probably know by now, I spent all weekend in London, and it’s quite easily my most favourite place on Earth. But maybe that’s because I always meet the nice people in London. Either way, it made for some interesting name spotting:

Abdullahmani

Avril

Baxter

Bertram

Guinevere

Huw

Jenson

Lynden (Male)

Nell

Opal

Pancras (I travelled through St. Pancras station, one day I will look him up)

Vera

A few days ago I saw Ben Fogle’s announcement that he’d welcomed his second child, a little girl named Iona. Such a lovely name, and she joins elder brother Ludo. Personally, I always think of Ludo Decker, Til Schweiger’s character in the german film: Keinohrhasen, when I hear Ludo.

The aim of my London trip was to go and see All’s Well that Ends Well at Shakespeare’s Globe, and I came away with a love of the name Parolles, a character in the play.

Whilst in London, I made time to finally go through the Cabinet War Rooms, which in itself was a treasure trove of names:

Clarita ‘Clara’

Clement

Clementine (known as Clemmie)

Hastings

Kingsley

Leonie

Magnolia

Olive

Randolph

Winston

And whilst I remember, the picture in a recent  post is not Embankment, it’s Bank. Specifically the central line station at Bank. It’s nice to have that issue cleared up.