David Pickering - The Penguin Book of Baby Names

PENGUIN REFERENCE

The Penguin Book of Baby Names

David Pickering is an experienced writer, editor and illustrator. He has broadcast many times on radio and television and lives in Buckingham with his wife and two sons. He has compiled or contributed to well over 200 reference books, mostly in the area of the arts, English language, history, folklore, entertainment and popular interest. As author, these include a Dictionary of First Names (Penguin, 1999, 2004), Sports Quotations (2000), a Dictionary of Proverbs (2001), the Pears Factfinder (Penguin, 2002), a Dictionary of Saints (2004), Pirates (2006), Jokes (Penguin, 2006), Perfect Pub Quiz (2007) and Buttering Parsnips, Twocking Chavs (2007).

David Pickering

PENGUIN BOOKS

PENGUIN BOOKS

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First published 2009

Copyright David Pickering, 2009

All rights reserved

The moral right of the author has been asserted

Except in the United States of America, this book is sold subject to the condition that it shall not, by way of trade or otherwise, be lent, re-sold, hired out, or otherwise circulated without the publishers prior consent in any form of binding or cover other than that in which it is published and without a similar condition including this condition being imposed on the subsequent purchaser

ISBN: 978-0-14-193150-0

Choosing a name for a baby is a matter most new parents naturally take very seriously. After all, a persons name can affect their whole life and career, and an inappropriate choice may cause lasting embarrassment or difficulty whatever that persons age or other qualities. A fanciful or frivolous name, for example, may suggest a likeable, cheerful nature but is not likely to promote a persons chances of being taken seriously, while a plainer, monosyllabic name might.

A persons name is a stamp of their individuality, though in reality it may well say more about the parents prejudices, class background or social pretensions than it does about the bearer. People tend to make instant judgements about strangers based on names, although these judgements may be modified later. Children in particular may focus on unusual names in order to emphasize their own unique personality or make fun of others. Some names fit in in certain regions or communities, but would look out of place elsewhere. Others change with fashion, being in vogue with one generation, but old-fashioned to the next (although they may well come back into fashion years later).

Examination of the latest lists of newly registered first names published by various government agencies around the English-speaking world each year (and contained in an appendix at the end of this book) reveals much about current trends and changing tastes in the naming of children. Parents continue to be attracted both to traditional choices that have been popular for generations and to revivals of neglected favourites as well as to newer coinages, typically ones that have been promoted in various branches of the media. Thus, lists of the most popular names over the past few years have featured such well-established choices as Jack, Thomas, Olivia and Emily alongside such new or rediscovered names as Ethan, Callum, Ruby and Mia.

Modern parents tend to be more conservative in naming their sons than they are in naming their daughters and there is consequently a somewhat wider choice of names available for girl babies. They are, however, more than happy to consider unusual alternatives for either sex alongside more conservative traditional choices or to take up a diminutive form of an old name rather than the root name itself (for instance, Jake rather than Jacob or Evie rather than Eve). Several long-standing favourites for both sexes, which might have been expected to remain top choices for years to come, have gone into decline as a result, notable amongst them such examples as David (ending some fifty years as one of the top-ten favourite choices) and Sarah. Also languishing in the lower reaches of the tables are such former staples as Robert, Andrew, John, Susan and Alexandra. Other names that were briefly at a peak a decade ago (among them Jason, Kylie and Chelsea) have returned to relative obscurity. Only time will tell if a similar fate awaits Madison, Jayden, Tyler, Keira, Ava and other recently emerged choices that have taken their place.

Parents continue to range widely for inspiration. For some the easiest route, in time-honoured fashion, is to look at a list of saints days (as given in the appendices of this book) and select a name appropriate to the babys birthday or else to pick a name with family or religious significance. While names from the Bible (Joshua, Matthew, Rebecca and so on) continue to play an important role, many of the other names in the lists of the most popular baby names reflect the influence of contemporary society, with bursts of interest in names borne by top sports players, film stars, fictional characters and so forth. In the last few years television has provided several candidates, including the girls name Chardonnay, as featured in the drama series Footballers Wives, and Leona, familiar through Leona Lewis, winner of The X Factor talent show. The cinema, meanwhile, has suggested, among others, Angelina (after actress Angelina Jolie), Erin (from the film Erin Brockovich) and Maximus (after the name of the hero in Gladiator). Childrens literature has inspired a renewal of interest in the old favourite Harry (as a result of the success of the Harry Potter stories) and in politics the election of Barack Obama as US president may well boost the status of Barack as a popular choice.

Many people have followed the lead of various celebrities in taking up, with varying degrees of enthusiasm, the often adventurous names that the famous select for their own children. Highlights in this category have included such names as Brooklyn, Romeo and Cruz (as bestowed upon David and Victoria Beckhams offspring), Mia (the name of Kate Winslets daughter) and Daisy (Jamie Olivers choice for his daughter).

A natural conservatism has continued to exert itself with regard to more outlandish choices and parents seem to have been on the whole reluctant to accept the baton proffered by the late Paula Yates, who named her four daughters Fifi Trixibelle, Peaches, Little Pixie and Heavenly Hiraani Tiger Lily (see the appendices for a list of celebrity baby names for further inspiration). Other recently recorded names that seem destined to remain unique include those of three Brazilian sisters who were called Xerox, Photocopier and Authenticated (reportedly because their birth resulted from a romp on a photocopying machine) and the British baby girl born in the 1990s with the name Room 21A (named apparently for similar reasons).