An Apple a Day

photo courtesy of www.photosbymonika.com

Gwyneth Paltrow had no idea how much controversy she was about to cause when she named her daughter Apple back in May of 2004. "That's not a name" was the most common judgement on people's lips, and her daughters name is now held up as an example on all "Most Bizarre Celebrity Baby Names" lists. So why did Gwyneth and her husband Coldplay front man Chris Martin choose the name Apple? To paraphrase from her interview with Oprah Winfrey at the time, they felt that apples are sweet, wholesome, biblical and lovely. They proposed "Is it really so different from the other nature/ noun names out there that are commonly used, such as Rose, Lily or Ivy?" I find this logic a little hard to argue with these days, considering the many word names on the rise. Yes, an apple is a fruit, but people mustn't dislike fruit names too much, because we're now seeing Plum and Lemon regularly mentioned as possible names.

So what other options are available if you too love the imagery of the clean, fresh, sweet apple but don't want people thinking you've copied a weird celebrity baby name?

Well, today's post was actually inspired by a girl who recently started at my work who is named Gala, which brought to my mind Royal Gala Apples. This particular Gala apparently got her name after her mother saw an advertisement for an event on the side of one of the trams that Melbourne is famous for. Gala is an established name with origins in French (meaning 'enjoyment'), Russian (meaning 'calm') and Hebrew (meaning 'spring'). Salvador Dali's wife was named Gala. Like the apple that Gwyneth named her daughter for, Gala is a rather sweet, uplifting name.

If you're going to be inspired by an object, let's face it, an apple isn't the worst thing out there. If you're still not sure, other possible apple inspired names include:

Boys
Ashmead - apple variety
Beacon (English) - means 'signal light', is an apple variety
Borromeo - Saint Charles Borromeo is the patron saint of apple orchards
Braeburn - apple variety
Calville - apple variety
Connell (Irish) - from Conal, which means 'strong as a wolf', is an apple variety
Coster (Old English) - from a large medieval variety of apple that no longer exists called a costard
Creston (English) - means 'town on the crest', is an apple variety
Crispin (Latin) -  means 'curly-haired', is an apple variety
Dayton (English) - means 'place with a dike', is an apple variety
Falstaff (English) - a Shakespearean name, and an apple variety
Grove (Nature name) - means 'grove of trees', is an apple variety
Hazen (English) - variation of Hayes, meaning 'hedged area', is an apple variety
Jonwin - apple variety
Laxton - apple variety
Malus (Latin Botanical) - name given to crab apple trees
Nehou - apple variety
Orin (Hebrew) - variation of Oren, meaning 'dark-haired', is an apple variety
Pendragon (English) - means 'from the enclosed land of the dragon', is an apple variety
Pippin (German) - apple variety
Pommeroy (Old French) - means 'apple orchard', pomme is the french word for apple
Rubin (Hebrew) - variety of Rueben, meaning 'behold, a son, is an apple variety

Girls
Almata - apple variety
Ambrosia (Greek/Roman) - means 'food of the gods', is an apple variety
Ariane (Italian) - means 'most holy', is an apple variety
Avalon (Celtic) - means 'island of apples'.
Cybele (Greek) - means 'mother of all gods', is an apple variety
Fearn - apple variety
Florina (Latin) - means 'flourishing, prosperous', is an apple variety
Garland (word/place name) -
Jubilee (Hebrew) - means 'ram's horn', is an apple variety
Junami - apple variety
Lodi - apple variety
Melrose (English) - originally a boys name, meaning 'bare moor/barren heath', is an apple variety
Meridian (American) - means 'middle, centre', is an apple variety
Novaspy - apple variety
Pinova - apple variety
Pomona (Latin) - means 'apple'. Pomona was also the Roman goddess of fruit trees
Reinette (French) - means 'little queen', is an apple variety
Rubinette - apple variety
Sansa (Sanskrit) - means 'praise, invocation, charm', is an apple variety