Sadie

Molly Tarlov, looking much more angelic than Sadie Saxton, the character she portrays on 'Awkward'

If you asked me ten years ago what I thought about the name Sadie, I probably would have screwed my nose up. My main Sadie experiences were an elderly (and very lovely) neighbour, a girl I wouldn't say I was friends with in primary school named Sadie-Rose, and the cleaning lady from the John Farnham song. In fact, I'm sure Farnsys breakout 60's song 'Sadie The Cleaning Lady' single-handedly caused a drop in the use of the name Sadie in Australia.

However lately she's been popping up all over the place, and my perceptions of Sadie have been changing. Today she was the eldest daughter in the new movie 'This Is 40'. Over the past year, she's been high school mean girl Sadie Saxton from MTV's 'Awkward' (I know we're not meant to like the bully's but there's something so cool about her snide "You're Welcome" after she delivers her zingers). Suddenly Sadie has spunk and attitude. She also has celeb baby cred, as Christina Applegate used it for her daughter Sadie Grace, born early 2011. And with the vintage revival trend going strong, Sadie is emerging as one of my favourite gems from the past.

Sadie (pronounced SAY-dee) started out as a pet form of the Hebrew name Sarah, meaning 'princess', but became commonly used as a name on it's own. In America she's actually quite a bit more popular than you might think. Sadie was positioned at #124 in the US in 2011, and was #78 on Nameberry's most popular girls names list for 2012, so likely to remain fairly steady when the SSA figures for 2012 are released in May. It's also popular in Canada and Scotland.

Sadie is a pretty, graceful, but fresh and spunky sounding name. Name aficionado Laura Wattenburg of Baby Name Wizard has been quoted as saying that Sadie is a "Quadruple bulls-eye" name, "perfectly combining Jewish heritage, period feel, informal style and modern appeal".

Sadie also offers some interesting options for parents who can't agree on whether they want a vintage, traditional name, or a more modern option. If you still can't agree on Sadie itself, I've heard of one couple settling for Mercedes, nickname Sadie as an unusual compromise. Zadie is another option - same sound, but the "Z" gives it a "cooler" look and feel if that's an important factor for you (as a side note, the only Zadie's I've known were short for Scheherazade, but it's also a fantastic name in itself and much much less popular than Sadie).

If you don't mind the plethora of different songs composed in her name, or that in America there's a custom of girls inviting boys to the Sadie Hawkins dance, Sadie (or even Zadie) is a gorgeous name that could tick a lot of boxes. Or dare I say it, hit multiple bullseyes for you.