NamepediA Blog -

Strange baby names: NZ judge orders 'odd' name change

2008-07-24

A judge in New Zealand made a young girl a ward of court so that she could change the name she hated - "Talula Does The Hula From Hawaii".

New Zealand does not allow names that would cause offence or that are longer than 100 characters, Registrar-General Brian Clarke said.

Officials often tried to talk parents out of particularly unusual choices that could embarrass their offspring, the Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying.

Examples of strange allowed names:

Violence
Number 16 Bus Shelter
Midnight Chardonnay
Benson and Hedges (twins)

Examples of disallowed names:

Yeah Detroit
Stallion
Twisty Poi
Keenan Got Lucy
Sex Fruit
Fat Boy
Cinderella Beauty Blossom
Fish and Chips (twins)

We do not add such unique names to the NamepediA database.

Source: http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7522952.stm

The "Che" in "Che Guevara"

2008-07-18

Born as Ernesto Guevara in Argentina, the revolutionist got the nickname "Che" because of his frequent use of the typical Argentine interjection "che", which is used in much the same way as "hey", "hey you!" or "pal".

This word che distinguishes Argentine people from people of all other Spanish speaking countries.

Today, Che is a common nickname for any Argentine who lives in another Spanish country.

When Guevara became a citizen of Cuba he formally adopted his nickname Che.

Sources:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Che_Guevara
http://www.geocities.com/Athens/Forum/9962/che1.html
http://www.kirjasto.sci.fi/guevar.htm
http://www.ce.berkeley.edu/~coby/essays/figaro.htm

Andrea remains a male name

2008-06-16

In Turin a couple wanted to name their female baby Andrea. But since Andrea is a male name in Italy, the district attorney denied this request, even tough in other countries Andrea is a female name. It would cause confusion over the gender of the child, which violates the interest of the child, the attorney explained. Thus the district attorney ordered the child to be renamed to Andreina, the Italian female form of Andrea.

Catchy Brazilian Nicknames

2008-04-22

Are the Brazilians a nation of prodigious name-givers? If you want to find out your perfect nickname, you should travel to Brazil. You will meet there thousands of amazing padrinhos and madhrinas (or godparents) who will just ignore your real name, and will give you a much more colorful nickname.

Is your name Anthony? You can forget about it! Brazilians will call you Tonho, TÃ´ni, Tonico, Totonho, TonhÃ£o and whatever else their vivid imagination can come up with. And donât even think to be called Mr. X, or Mrs. Y! Brazilians donât like formalities.

Of course, we all love the great Brazilian football team, better known as SeleÃ§Ã£o Canarinho (Canary Selection). And we also adore the wonderful nicknames of the Brazilian football players! We donât care these are not their real names; I think itâs so cool to have a nickname on the t-shirt! Here are only some well known examples:

Marcos Evangelista de Moraes â Cafu
CÃcero JoÃ£o de CÃ©zare â Cicinho
Ãnderson LuÃs da Silva â LuisÃ£o
Ricardo Izecson dos Santos Leite â KakÃ¡
Robson de Souza â Robinho
Frederico Chaves Guedes â Fred
Carlos Caetano Bledorn Verri - Dunga

Some think that nicknames are given to football players for marketing reasons. Others think it is cheaper to write the nicknames on the shirts, because they are shorter than the real names and the shirts are charged by the letter.

But the truth is simply that nicknames are part of the Brazilian culture. Every Brazilian has at least one! Even the president of Brazil has a nickname, Lula (an affectionate form for Luiz, meaning also squid). As nobody actually call him by his real name, the Brazilian president officially added his widely known nickname to his birth name, becoming thus: Luiz InÃ¡cio Lula da Silva. And donât be surprised if some Brazilian phone books list the subscribers by their nicknames!

Nicknames are a sign of love, a way of considering a person for what he/she is, regardless any cultural background or social status. Brazilians will look at you, will pay genuine interest in you, they will nickname you!

How are all these nicknames born? Some of them are linguistically explainable, making use of diminutive or augmentative suffixes, very common in colloquial Portuguese:

inho/inha (meaning little) â as we see in Cicinho (little Cicero), Ronaldinho (little Ronaldo), Robinho (little Robson)
Ã£o (meaning big) â as we see in LuisÃ£o (big LuÃs)

Others are short forms of the given name, like Frederico leading to Fred.

Many nicknames have their unique stories behind. Marcos Evangelista de Moraes was nicknamed Cafu because his playing style made people associate him with Cafuringa, a legendary Brazilian forward of the â60 and â70.

KakÃ¡ is how Ricardoâs brother used to pronounce his name, when they were kids. The same for Arthur Antunes Coimbra, nicknamed Zico ['zi.ku] by his sister, in childhood.

Some nicknames are inspired from...cartoons. Dunga is the Portuguese name of Dopey, one of the 7 dwarfs, the youngest of them. If you have in mind the famous image of the 7 dwarfs heading in line to/from work, Dopey/or Dunga is always the last one, so you cannot possibly mistake him!

Many Brazilians have other additional nicknames, more related to their personality, skills, or stories. PelÃ© or O Rei (The King)/ A PÃ©rola Negra (The Black Pearl), NÃ©lio or O Marreco (The White Duck), NÃlton Santos or A EnciclopÃ©dia (The Encyclopedia), ServÃlio or O Bailarinho (The Ballet Dancer), ZÃ© Carlos or O Caipira (The Peasant) and so on and so forth.

What amazes me is the Brazilian special gift to find such perfect nicknames, short, and witty, and funny. I take my hat off to their playful, spontaneous and subtle use of language. A good nickname is something we can recognize, like a good wine, like a good movie. Thatâs why even non-Portuguese speakers are delighted by these nicknames: âWaw, thatâs so well put, so heartbreakingly pretty!â, and foreigners adore to call the Brazilian footballers Ronaldinho, Pele, Didi, Careca, Zizinho, Zico, Bebeto, Garrincha!

2007 UK Top 5 Baby Names

2008-04-15

Is it trendy to be old-fashioned?

Young parents today seem to appreciate a lot the names recognized as classics. Grandmaâs names have become hot in the last years, demonstrating once again that classic is timeless.

Here are the hottest baby names of 2007 in the UK:

UK Top Five Girls Names

UK Top Five Boys Names

A conservative drift in name patterns and continuity of tradition are definitely the fads of the 2000s. This means that the so-called counter-culture of the 60s and 70s is unmistakably over, together with its rejection of traditional names and old social customs.

Names with a Victorian flavour or centuries old names are the favourites of the young and trendy parents in the 2000s.

4 of the Top 5 Girl Names were popular at the end of the 19th century: Grace, Ruby, Jessica and Emily.

Grace, initially a Puritan name, with the theological meaning of âGodâs mercy, Godâs graceâ, switched its meaning to âa graceful personâ and reached popularity in the Victorian age. Now, it is the number one of 2007.

Ruby was trendy at the same time, like other names of precious stones: Pearl, Beryl, Opal.

3 names in the list: Olivia, Jessica and Emily are somehow literary names, as famous writers such as Shakespeare, Boccaccio and Chaucer contributed to their popularity.

Jessica is Shakespeareâs coinage in âThe Merchant of Veniceâ, while its diminutive Jessie suggests Romantic background.

Olivia â another Shakespearean name, given to a character of the wonderful play âThe Twelfth Nightâ.

The smooth and sweet sounding Emily fitted well the Romantic poetry.

Now, all 3 of them are hot again.

In the boyâs list, we have 3 biblical names: Jack (Hebrew â âGod-is-graciousâ), Thomas (Aramaic â âtwinâ) and Joshua (Hebrew â âGod-savesâ), all with a long, old tradition in the English-speaking countries.

Literary names are present in the boyâs list as well: Oliver and Harry. The famous character Oliver Twist of Charles Dickens (1840) contributed to the popularity of the name while Harry has been growing more and more popular after Joanne K. Rowling published the first Harry Potter book in 1997.

Well, we wish "Welcome in this beautiful world!" to all Graces, and Rubys, and Jacks and Olivers, and hope you will not meet too many with the same name in one class!

Finnish Surnames

2008-04-07

Usually we do not choose our names: a family name is inherited from our ancestors, and a first name is "given" to us by our parents. But it has not always been as easy as that.

By the end of the 19th century, when family names became mandatory in Finland, the Finns missing a surname had to choose one, to translate one, or to invent one. Definitely, they did not lack inspiration!

Choosing your own surname must have been awesome and challenging. I imagine everyone was eager to pick a good family name. Some hesitated, and changed the surname several times. There might have been hot disputes, family quarrels and a general fever that could inspire not less than a Hollywood story.

What were their options?

Before 1863, Swedish was the only official language in Finland, and names were kept in parish records in Swedish.

For instance, Niilo, son of Lauri, was in official records Nils Larsson. At home, however, he was probably better known as Niilo Laurinpoika (poika means son in Finnish).

After 1863, Finnish became an official language, besides Swedish, and people could choose between a Swedish and a Finnish surname.

Laurinpoika (Finnish) vs Larsson (Swedish)

A possible scenario:

Laurinpoika seemed maybe the best choice to Niilo, who was living in the country-side.

But his brother, Paavo, who was a student in Helsinki, was probably fonder of his Swedish surname, and he would not change it. So he preferred to be Paul Larsson rather than Paavo Laurinpoika.

Laurinpoika/Larsson vs Something Else

Other members of the family, who did not like either Larsson or Laurinpoika, were free to choose something else, or they could coin their unique surnames.

Apparently, names describing nature landscapes seemed very appealing to many Finns. Names like Isokoski (big rapids), Ahoniemi (aho-clearing, niemi-promontory), or Laine (wave) were some beautiful, eligible names on their lists. Countless such names were coined at that time.

Forsman (Swedish) vs Koskinen (Finnish)

Some were translations into Finnish (or fennicizations) of Swedish surnames, like the example above.

Eventually, the members of a family did not share the same surname.

Many Finns today have the surnames their ancestors picked at that epoch, either Finnish or Swedish. After the German model, surnames are now inherited in Finland. However, Finns can officially change their family names once, without a particular reason.

Fanciful Puritan Names

2008-03-31

When in 1559 Elizabeth I (1533-1603) became the Supreme Governor of the Church of England, following the Act of Supremacy, the Puritan movement appeared as a reaction against a worldly, political hierarchy considered as inappropriate for spiritual matters. The movement continued in England in the 17th century, under the Stuarts.

The first Massachusetts immigrants who left England in 1620 on the Mayflower ship took the Puritan movement to America, where they established a very strong Puritan community.

Puritans are generally known for their intransigent moral principles, for their deep knowledge of the Bible and for their passionate quest for purity of worship, which should be based only on the Bible.

Few know today that they were also the authors of some unusual name patterns.

Puritans feared God, but certainly they did not fear ridicule when they coined names like Chastity, Morality, Kill-sin, Fight-the-good-faith-of-faith or Learn-wisdom.

Who says Puritans were austere and stiff?

In fact, their names were so extravagant and elaborate that we might say that, in what names are concerned, Puritans were actually experimental and revolutionary.

Of course, Puritans drew their inspiration from the Bible, which they knew thoroughly. Daniel, Abraham, Nathaniel, Samuel, Ezekiah were good Puritan names, but the names of insignificant biblical characters were just as good as the famous ones, when the Bible was opened and a name was chosen randomly. All non-biblical saint names, very trendy in the Middle Ages, were rejected, as being corrupt and decadent.

At some point, the virtues (Faith, Charity, Mercy, Patience, Grace, Hope, Prudence, Temperance) were coined as names, to better reflect the Puritan state of mind. Puritans got totally avant-garde (without being aware of it, of course) when they tried to eliminate all worldly hints from their names, and started to use long slogans and moving words as names.

These slogan names are cited today as mere historical curiosities, and seem almost unbelievable:

Fear-the-Lord,
If-Christ-had- not-died-for- thee-thou-hadst- been-damned,
Search-the-scriptures,
The-Lord-is-near

Most of the Puritan nomenclature seems today weird and grotesque. Grace and Hope are among the few Puritan names that have survived, but their significance is blurred.

Luciano Passuello, just like in 'Luciano Pavarotti'

2008-03-26

Remembering people's names is a life skill, just like cooking, driving, doing well in job interviews or having the sense of humor.

In the article How to Always Remember People's Names you will find down-to-earth advice on improving this valuable skill and getting the most out of every introduction.

You will discover quick and easy ways to:

Avoid the embarrassing situation of forgetting people's names
Be playful and make associations to remember names
Avoid calling people with expressions such as "man", "my friend", "pal"
Speak your mind's language to improve your memory
Relax and pay genuine interest in people

Here is the link: http://litemind.com/how-to-always-remember-peoples-names/

Enjoy it!

Changing Fashions - Flower Names

2008-03-18

Rose, Daisy,Poppy, Pansy, Primrose, Tansy, Violet, Bluebell, Iris, Myrtle ... .

Do you think that hippies brought the vogue for flower names?

No. In fact, the ones who were crazy about these names were the Victorians. In the late 19 th century in Britain, it was very fashionable to have a flower name. The mood for the delicate, simple and graceful flower names was maybe a reaction against the ravages of the Industrial Revolution. Some of the flower names, like Pansy or Daisy, date back to the Victorian age. Others are older, but they became popular in Britain at the end of the 19 th century.

Not all flower names were equally trendy. For one reason or another, a name like Rose was preferred to Bluebell, far less used than many other flower names. Some are still well-used nowadays, others are given as a second name.

Flower names lost popularity in the "Golden Twenties", when it seemed they were no longer in tune with the vibe of the dynamic Jazz Age.

NamepediA addon for Firefox and Thunderbird

2007-04-19

Want to look up "Roger Federer" directly from your web browser? Then use the NamepediA Firefox extension.

Do you have to reply to an email message and don't know if that person is male or female, nor what is the first and what is the last name? Then try the NamepediA Thunderbird extension.