Cecily Dynes - Gem Best Baby Names For Australia And New Zealand

The wrong name can be a handicap for a person. That is not to say that we must be ultraconservative in our naming. Human ingenuity and imagination being limitless, it is impossible to show every name. But an effort has been made to cover the most frequently found streams. There is a rich tapestry of names from which to choose. For the holder of a foreign name, I hope the book will be useful in translating the name (if required) to friends.

There may be times when someone named Yusef may want to call himself Joseph or a Ximena wants to call herself Simone. Then there are those who, for one reason or another, dislike their names. This bookmay be helpful in showing an alternative version which could make all the difference to their feeling about their name. Lastly the book is for all who are interested in names and naming in Australia and New Zealand.

We pointed a finger and said you and me and them. After naming commenced we could say: Ugg was here. Ugg has gone. Ugg is under the big rock in the bog. Later someone probably put a mark on the rock, it became known as Uggs Rock and this led to tombstones and geography and history and civilisation generally. At first there were just first namesUgg, etceterabut as the population increased, surnames appeared in order to differentiate them.

If five Johns lived in a village they might become John the son of Thomas (Thompson), John who lived near the ford (Ford), John the Blacksmith (Smith), John from France (French) and John who was tall (Long or Lang). The surnames became hereditary in many cultures (not all, even now), but the first and later second names became given names. With the rise of the Christian church they began to be referred to as Christian names, but many names in this book are not Christian names (the Sanskrit ones, for instance) and therefore it is a book about given names. There are few Aboriginal names in this book for the Aborigines have a general disinclination to make their personal namespublic. True Aboriginal names are usually taken from sacred, mythological and totemic associations and therefore should only be spoken aloud with great reverence. According to Emeritus Professor A.P.

Elkin, one of the worlds leading anthropologists, in his book The Australian Aborigines, published by Angus & Robertson, There is also in some parts a fear lest magical use could be made of the personal name to the hurt of its owner. We do not need knowledge of such names and should not press for them. For this reason most of the Aboriginal names in this book are place and descriptive names. The same applies (to a lesser extent) to many Polynesian names, and so most of the Polynesian names in this book are historical or pakeha translations.

Think about them for a little while. But dont try them out on too many people as nearly all names are disliked by somebody. Experiment with initials, short or long forms, how they will fit with the surname and other members of the family. Note the meaning and origin. Perhaps another form of the name would be preferable? The French or the Greek? If you consult this calendar to name a baby, do not immediately be turned off by the name on the birth date. Consider it with your other choices for a whileespecially if the child is not of the sex you expected.

You may be surprised how the name grows on you