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Wednesday, July 4, 2012

Spotted - Denver Anton & Zelda Gypsy Jane

While having a squiz at the birth announcements in the Melbourne Herald Sun yesterday, two names struck me as particularly inspiring - Denver Anton and Zelda Gypsy Jane! I'd like to start with a congratulations to the lucky new parents, and their adventurous naming choices.

We don't get many Denver's here is Australia. The only examples that spring to mind is the last name of country singer John Denver, or the 80's cartoon 'Denver: The Last Dinosaur' (I have the theme song running through my mind right now!). I'll add here that I have very fond memories of the show, which is possibly why it made me smile when I saw this name in use.

Denver The Last Dinosaur
I really like the sound of Denver, and the much more traditional Anton makes this combination sound a little more grown up - grounded but not boring. It brings to mind images of someone cool but smart.

Denver is actually an English/French place name meaning 'from Anvers', while Anton is a German/Scandinavian version of Anthony, which means 'priceless one'. Such a beautiful meaning.


Zelda, Twilight Princess
Zelda Gypsy Jane on the other hand just drips with spunk.

Zelda was popular in the early 1900's, but has been rarely used since the 1970's. The popular Nintendo Game 'The Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess' increased the recognisability of the name, but hasn't seemed to have given it a huge boost in popularity. Although it did inspire Robin Williams to name his daughter Zelda Rae.

With the association of Zelda with a video game princess, the romanticism conjured by the word Gypsy and Jane's lovely meaning of 'god's gracious gift', Zelda Gypsy Jane is a distinctive name that evokes positive images for most. It also has the benefit of being unusual without a "I think they made that name up" vibe. Plus it's a great use of the steadily rising two middle names trend, a practice that is giving baby name lovers a chance to create truly unique combos and the opportunity to use more of the names they love.

2 comments:

  1. I just random search on google using my daughter's name and this fantastic article came up about her. My daughter is Zelda Gypsy Jane and she was born on the 29th June 2012, so I am presuming that this comment is about her!I first heard of Zelda because of Zelda Sayre (F.Scott Fitergerald's ) wife and I loved it, my husband knew of Zelda because of the video game and he loved it too.
    Thank you so much, Blue Juniper, for saying such lovely things about Zelda's name. She is our joy and we feel blessed by her everyday.

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    Replies
    1. Thanks for the positive feedback!

      It's great to find out a little about the reasons behind your great name choice, and I'm glad you like my post :)

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