Delta

For many Americans, the name Delta probably feels a little stale, bringing to mind images of actress Delta Burke of the 80's TV series 'Designing Women'. But for Australians, Delta is fresh, synonymous with the young, talented judge of the Australian series of 'The Voice', Delta Goodrem.

Delta Goodrem first became an Australian household name appearing on 'Neighbours' as young aspiring singer Nina in her late teens. The show was a springboard for Delta to release her debut album 'Innocent Eyes', which became the highest selling Australian album ever and gave Delta the record of having five singles from her debut album to reach number 1 on the Australian charts.

Since then Delta has released three more albums and has been the only female judge on both of the Australian seasons of 'The Voice'. And while her personal life has often attracted just as much attention as her professional career, this has never been more true than while she has been on 'The Voice'. A simple change in her hairstyle was the main story in the gossip pages of the 'Herald Sun' Melbourne newspaper two days in a row last week.

But all this does bring a lot of attention to the name Delta. Delta (pronounced DEHL-tah) originates from the Greek alphabet - it is the equivalent of the letter D. It also represents the letter D in the NATO phonetic alphabet, and the symbol for Delta is also a mathematical symbol. But perhaps the closet you can get to a meaning is when it is used as a place name - a delta is a land form at the mouth of a river, which I guess makes Delta and place and a nature name.

Delta is a pretty common word. It appears on cars, companies, sororities, computer games, a radio station, an airline, special police operations in America and Norway, and multiple towns and other locations. The Delta Blues music style also got its name from the Mississippi Delta region it originated from. And yet Delta is by no means a common name. It's not in the top 100 anywhere in the world,and in America in 2012 it was given to just 16 girls, giving it a position of #7486. It was much more popular at the beginning of the 1900's, peaking at #723 in 1893. It is perhaps because of this and the iconic, southern style of the Delta Blues that can leave people feeling that Delta is a laid back, old school southern charm type of name.

Yet Delta has quite a chameleon-like feel to it. I don't think that it will ever be a super popular name. But it's somewhat of an alternative modern classic - a name that could weather the test of time and still look fresh in the future. As Delta Goodrems' popularity increases, people will definitely be giving Delta a second look.