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

Anders

Baby Anders, courtesy of clickbysuzanne.com

I was doing some channel surfing today when I came across a re-run of 'MacGyver'. Remember MacGyver, that oh-so-cool guy who could make a fission rocket out of duct tape, some paperclips and a piece of rope? It was one of the best shows of the 80's and the star of the show was Richard Dean Anderson. All three of his names are good, strong options for boys. But let's look at his name slightly differently - what do you think of Anders?

Anders (pronounced AAN-ders) is most commonly used in Scandinavian countries. It is Greek in origin, with versions of this name in other languages being Andrew, Andre, Andreas and Andrei. The name means 'strong and manly', which is a good meaning to bestow on a young boy. Be aware though that the word anders actually translates to 'different' or 'else' in Dutch or German, which can be a cause of teasing in those countries.

Just as there is a rich history of the use of Andrew (He was one of Jesus' first disciples, and is the patron saint of Russia, Scotland and Greece), Anders has seen a lot of use. Just some examples are:

• Anders Celsius, the Swedish astronomer that the Celsius scale is named after
• Anders Fogh Rasmussen, former Prime Minister of Denmark and 12th Secretary General of NATO
• Anders Jarryd, Swedish tennis player
• Anders Zorn, Swedish painter
• Anders And, the Swedish name for Donald Duck
• Anders Holm, actor who plays Anders Holmvik on American comedy 'Workaholics'
• Anders Peina, character in Stephen King's 'The Eyes of the Dragon'
• Anders, a mage in the video game series 'Dragon Age'

However, as with any popular name, not all Anders have done positive things. In 2011, Anders Breivik bombed a government building in Oslo, then went on a shooting spree killing 69 people. But don't let one bad example put you off this name. Otherwise there would never be another child named Jack, Charles, Robert or Ted. And it would be sad never to meet another Anders, as it is a cool name with an inspiring meaning - a great alternative to Andrew in the Western World.

Sookie

Anna Paquin as Sookie Stackhouse

Unfortunately, next weeks episode of 'True Blood' means the end of another great season of this show, and a long wait until season six starts in June 2013. So in honour of the ending of another season, I thought it a fitting time to look at the interesting name of the main character - Sookie Stackhouse.

Sookie is pronounced as SOO-key (sounds like cookie). 'True Blood' has created a lot of interest in this name - website www.parenting.com reports that Sookie has been one of the most searched girls names on their site in 2010 and 2011. However this so far does not seem to be translating to actual use, as Sookie is yet to crack the top 1000 in America and certainly doesn't rate a mention in Australian charts.

Sookie is an unusual names that has been used not only in 'True Blood' which is based on the Charlaine Harris novels, but also in 'Gilmore Girls' in the form of kooky chef Sookie St James, and as the name of Claire Danes' character in the movie "Igby Goes Down". For those familiar with the name through these characters, you possibly think that Sookie is a cute name, slightly left of centre but quite lovable. Sookie is thought to originate from Susanna or Susan, and all three mean "Lily".  Of course, the name Lily is a top 10 name in America and England, and a top 20 name in Australia. So there is a possibility that maybe people will start to look to Sookie as an alternative to the wildly popular Lily.

So why hasn't Sookie taken off the way the names from that other big vampire franchise - Twilight - have? Isabella and Jacob shot up the charts once those movies went into production, and let's face it, vampires are hot right now. Here's what I think are the main factors that have contributed to it's less than stellar performance on the charts:
1 - it's similarity to a certain 'Jersey Shore' "celebrealty" called Snooki. The similarity is far too close for comfort, with most parents wanting to keep any comparisons to this controversial character as far away from their daughters as possible (with good reason!)
2 - in Australia, "sookie" - or the more elaborate "sookie-la-la" - is another word for a crybaby. You're just asking for your daughter to be the butt of jokes if you give her the name Sookie in Australia.
3 - people tend to see Sookie as more of a pet name, both figuratively and literally. Yes, on sites such as www.babynames.com where you can upload photos of your precious little ones you don't see photos of happy children, just cute little puppy dogs.

Sookie may be one name that's best left to the world of movies and TV, where people don't get teased for their names unless it's an important plot line. Or if you really want to use it, stick to Susanna with the nickname Sookie instead. It's a shame. I can fully understand why you'd want to name a daughter after the brave, intriguing Sookie Stackhouse.