A Violet Opportunity

Violet Affleck out with Mom and Dad

I was talking to one of the moms from Edward's kindy the other day who has 3 kids and is expecting again. After general chitchat about both our pregnancys I asked her about names. She said "We are looking for something quite uncommon, just like our other kids names". And what are her other kids names? Harrison, India and Summer.

I told her that Edward might have indeed been a Harrison if it had been solely up to me but that Nathan thought it was just too popular. He was in the top 50 names for the year Edward was born (I checked now and he was ranked 24th) so we opted for the unranked Edward. She didn't seem to know that Harrison was such a high flyer.

I also mentioned that Summer and Sienna are amoung our (evergrowing) favourites when she asked. Her response was "I loved Sienna for Summer but we just couldn't have an India and then a Sienna." I checked the stats for my state for the year her little daughter was born abdSummer ranked 23rd, Sienna 8th. What!?!?!?! Since when did 15 places count for all that much? Summer even outranked Sarah at 29, Sophia at 30, Elizabeth at 33, Kate at 47 and ALL the variants of Caitlin! So much for unpopular.

Even the least common of her kids names, India, bears great correlation to the very popular Indiana, who now sits at 47 for us West Aussies.

Tut, Tut, Tut. Why won't people do proper research? If your looking for an uncommon name I would very strongly suggest having a long hard look at the trends and stats. Otherwise you just might find your 'rare' choice isn't rare at all.

So I had a good look at all the names on my list. The habit we have been getting into recently will either be our making or our breaking. We write any names that take our fancy on a white board I put in the lounge, next to the TV, so we have too look at it every day when we flick on the news. Its great! It gives me something to look at during the add breaks plus, we have a big pool to pick from. But anyways, I picked my favourites and had a look at their rankings. It was the best thing I could have possibly done to educate myself. I got some pleasant and some not so pleasant suprises.

For the Boys:

• Did you know that Christopher didn't rank at all in West Aus. !? And his name-cousin Christian ranked 76. I think its safe to use him don't you?
• Oliver was ranked 4th which is sad because he was a big favourite of mine though Olivia was 11th so that might be usable with the nickname Olive.
• Not many more surprises with my boy favourites except for Alexander. He ranked 26th. Yes! I'm happy about this one - just when he cracked it into the top 10 in the States!

For the Girls:

• Madeline didn't rank (but they do only do top 50 occurances). And even if she did,most people pronounce her like mad-e-lin, whereas I prefer mad-e-lie-n (rhyming with crime).
• His favourite girl, Phoebe, ranked 49th.
• My beautiful Imogen is 24th. I shed a tear or two over this one.
• No Isabel's Isabelle's Isabell's or Isabele's appeared anywhere! Which is fantastic because I am just enamoured with scottish Isobel (with a definate 'Oh' sound) and fellow -bel ender Claribel. Though, predictably, Isabella its hot stuff at rank 8.
• One of our strongest honarary middle name possibilites, dissapointingly, was 10th on the charts, Matilda.

And one last one that really took me by surprise:

• Sweet little Violet didn't chart in the top 50 occurances in West Aus. nor in the national statistics. This was quite a shock for me. I always thought, perhaps a little biasedly, that Australia usually, was a bit ahead on the baby name trend front. I did a post a couple of weeks back detailing all the little darling names Aus. has in our top 100 that have escaped popularity in the US. Well since that post, it appears that the US had taken our lead and added a couple of those Australian Favourites to their top 1000, like Gemma and Callum for example. Well it looks like you Yanks have beaten us to this one. I think I might bump Miss. Violet up my list after this discovery.

Shows the importance of doing research, I guess. But I know all you reading this all ready know that. That's why your reading this of course.

Yes We Look Different!

Thanks to Belle & Boo for the gorgeous artwork! What do you reckon? Cute as?

I think so.

The girl is Patience. Lovely; girly yet strong. On my list.

The boy is nameless. I think I like Christopher for him. I love this name! But the nickname of Cris is so... "Teenage Drama Show" (The OC comes to mind). Maybe in the middle spot?

So make Patience and Christopher welcome!

Ages of change

Through out the years different names come in and out of fashion. I think i can say definitely when I was born Laura was largely popular. There were 8 if not more "Laura's" within my year and many other Laura's within the school which made for embarrassing moments when I turned around and answered to people obviously looking for someone else (if you have this problem i have learnt to ignore people saying Laura. Then if they continue to yell and yell and its you who hasn't turned around you are sure its you!!")
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As time goes on parents become less conservative and want to name their child with "character building potential" and "individuality". How much have names changed. I thought I would investigate this claim through looking through the most popular names from the 1800s to present!

-1800s-

Ernest and Asa

Virginia and Phoebe

-1850s-

Abraham and Edwin

Lou and Alice

-1890s-

John and William

Mary and Anna

-1900s-

John and William

Mary and Helen

-1920s-

John and William

Mary and Dorothy

-1940s-

James and Robert

Mary And Barbara

-1960s-

David and Michael

Mary and Susan

-1980s-

Michael and Christopher

Jennifer and Amanda

-2000s-

Michael and Jacob

Hannah and Emily

-present-

Jacob and Michael

Emily and Isabella

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From these name we can see obvious trends of the name "John' "William" and "Michael" and "Mary" for girls.

Judging by the boys names most parents go for very conservative names. I think for a boys it's sometimes best to stay slightly normal, because boys will be boys and if hes named Pegasus Fairy Anne (OK yess a bit crazy and probably not in any ones name book) or Zuma Nest Rock (Gwen Stefani's son) its rather obvious he will get a bit of extra attention from the school bully and his class mates. And if you want to go creative, choose it for a middle name then if your child approves he can let the world know his fantastic name chosen by mum and dad!

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Though by personal choice I think you can be a bit freer with girls name choices. Apple was scandalous at the time and yet now people ask why not call your child Apple?

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Inspiration for all names is very personal. I think though when deciding upon a name don't look to the top 100 names for 2008 or 2007. Choose a name you are happy with and your husband is happy with (and hope your parents won't be to annoyed at :D) and be content with that. Don't look out to create crazy names to rival the celebs because they get extra publicity you may just get some strange stares. Be happy and fall in love with the name as Sarah and I have done when choosing our children's name!