Oviri

I found this one when watching 'Ellen' the other day. As Ellen often does, she was surprising a deserving viewer with a present after a woman's daughter - named Oviri - had written to Ellen. It struck me as an exotic sounding (pronounced oh-VEER-ee) and quite unique name, so of course it caught my attention!

And rare indeed it is. It has never appeared on the United States SSA records (so hasn't been given to more than 5 children in a single year). However a quick search on Facebook shows a small number of both males and females named Oviri, so it is used but there's a good chance you've never met one.

But if you are an art lover there is a better chance that you may have heard this word before. Oviri is perhaps best known as the name of a sculpture by French artist Paul Gauguin. Gauguin encountered it during his time in Tahiti, where Oviri is a Tahitian word meaning 'wild'. It is reportedly also the name of the goddess of mourning in Tahitian mythology, but I haven't seen that anywhere besides Wikipedia so maybe take that idea with a grain of salt.

I get the impression that Gauguin was quite taken with Oviri as the concept of its' meaning of wild or savage rather than as a name. He applied the term to several works, and even to a self portrait he did in plaster. A 1986 biographical movie about Gauguin was titled 'Oviri' (also known as 'The Wolf at the Door') and based on his life in Paris after his return from Tahiti. So it seems to have had a lasting impact on his life. If you're a fan of his work it could be a great choice.

Perhaps what most struck me most about Oviri though is what a lovely alternative it would make to the extremely popular Olivia. Or Oliver for boys. In fact, despite hearing it first on a girl, now that I've seen it used for both genders I'm liking it more for a boy. And if we're being a little fanciful, I could imagine Oviri as a sibling for Kai, Mowgli or Shiloh. What do you think?

Inspiring Names - 'Sliders'

You may remember a show from the late 90's called 'Sliders'. It was one of Jerry O'Connell's biggest roles at the time - one that brought him attention as an adult actor, not just "that fat kid from 'Stand By Me'".

Rembrandt, Arturo, Wade and Quinn

If you're not familiar with the show, the premise was this - science whiz teen creates a machine that transports you between parallel dimensions. He brings his science professor over to his house to show off his revolutionary machine, but as he is demonstrating it something goes terribly wrong. The teen, his professor, his best friend who is at his house at the time and a lounge singer who happens to be driving past his house are all swept up in a vortex and transported to a parallel world. However, as it was still in it's experimental stages, the science whiz kid and his professor are unable to get them directly back to their own dimension, and hence the foursome have no choice but to "slide" from dimension to dimension until they hopefully arrive back in their original world.

If I haven't lost you yet, it was a great show. But besides the interesting story lines, one of the things I remember loving about this show was the names of the four main characters. The two teens had gender bending names, while the two older characters had very classic sounding but unusual names. I may not necessarily use these, but they have always stuck in my mind.

QUINN

Quinn Mallory was the science whiz kid, the character portrayed by Jerry O'Connell. Until then, I had only heard the name as a girls one, so I was intrigued by the idea of it being used on a male. I realise this seems strange, as in the US Quinn has been far more popular for boys right up until two years ago. In 2009, 'Glee' burst onto our screens, introducing us to the beautiful, complex and popular cheerleader Quinn Fabray. In 2010 girls Quinns outnumbered boys by just 44 children. This increased in 2011, and we'll probably see this trend for a few years yet, if not permanently.

Quinn is an Irish name meaning 'descendant of Conn'. In The US it was the 188th most popular girls name, and 297th most popular boys name in 2011, and it is the favourite Q name for either gender. 

WADE

Wade Welles was Quinn's best friend, played by Sabrina Lloyd. The only female of the original foursome, Wade often helped bring the heart and humanity to situations when Quinn and his professor started to lose sight of anything besides facts and figures. She also was the long time sufferer of a massive crush on Quinn. 

Wade is definitely entrenched in our minds as a boys name, and in 2011 was ranked #549 for boys in the U.S. That's not to say there aren't other female Wade's out there. It's just that there's never been more than 7 girls given this name in a single year. So obviously this show did not boost Wade's popularity as a girl's name while the show aired. 

Wade means "at the river crossing", so is an option for people looking for a different, not too obvious water related name for their child. It may not be everyone's idea of a great girl's name, but it suited this character to a T - tomboyish, spunky, but with a softer side to it.

ARTURO

This is perhaps one of the most interesting names of the show (well, for me at least). Professor Maximilian Arturo was played by John Rhys Davies, a great English actor possibly best remembered for the Indiana Jones movies, and more recently, as Gimli in 'The Lord of the Rings' movies.

The character sometimes tended towards being quite supercilious, and his posh sounding name suited him well. Arturo is an Italian version of Arthur, thought to mean 'bear'. Which I guess also suited this actors appearance, and the characters sometimes grumbly, sometimes roaring nature. I much prefer it to Arthur, personally, which for some reason has a slightly wimpy feel to me.

Arturo was #461 for American boys in 2011. While not a popular name for girls, like Wade it has been given to a handful of girls sporadically over the years. But unlike Wade, I personally have trouble imagining it suiting a girl very well.

REMBRANDT

Rembrandt 'Crying Man' Brown - played by Cleavant Derricks - was unlucky enough to be driving past the house when the vortex swelled out and swallowed him up with the other three. He was most out of his element, being an artist to the scientifically oriented Quinn and Arturo. What I loved about his character is that he was the one that seemed to grow the most over the course of the show. He started as a rather vain, struggling singer, but grew to be a thoughtful, selfless and caring person.

Rembrandt is synonymous with the great Dutch painter and etcher Rembrandt Van Rijn. So I guess they decided to give the singer and artist of the group an artists name. Rembrandt is a Dutch name meaning 'sword advisor', which arguably often became his role in the group. Interestingly, 2011 was the first time it appeared on the US SSA list, after being given to just 5 boys. I think people had been deterred because the artist association was so unavoidable. But perhaps the rise of Matisse as a name has made artist names a little more accepted, and helped put this option back on the table.

Quinn about to slide through a vortex

The show ran for 5 seasons, and over the course of their adventures some of these characters left, to be replaced by the other primary characters. But for me, these four original characters were the core of the show. Was 'Sliders' a favourite of yours? Would you consider any of these names? Or maybe it's a different sci-fi show that introduced some names that have always struck a chord with you. If you want more sci-fi related names I suggest you also check out Geek Baby Names. It's a new blog dedicated to names from science, sci-fi and fantasy, and owner Clare has already looked at some great ones.

Matisse

The Dance, Henri Matisse, 1910

Say the name Matisse and most people immediately associate it with the French artist Henri Matisse. Matisse is an old French surname derived from "Matthew" or "Matias", meaning 'gift of god'. As with many surnames, Matisse is now being used as a given name for both boys and girls.

If you're interested in using Matisse, it's worth a check on the internet to see what is being said about Matisse, as it seems that this is one of those names that gets some quite different and passionate reactions. On one hand, one mother who names her daughter Matisse said that she receives nothing but compliments on her daughters name. But on yahoo answers, the responses to one woman's query about what people thought of the name were overwhelmingly negative - the favourite response chosen by voters was "I think it's really pretentious...it's like the parents are insecure nouveaux riches trying to shout to the world, "We are classy people who know about art!!!!! We appreciate art so much that we named our daughter MATISSE!" She went on to say "I don't think it makes any sense as a first name for a girl, either, since it's the surname of a male artist (Henri Matisse)" and "It also sounds like Maltese (those little white fluffy dogs). Just bad, bad, bad all around". I was more than a little shocked, as I doubt that anyone would actually say this to a child (or their parent) who bore this name!

I personally really like Matisse. And even though I like art, I wouldn't neccessarily choose it for it's "art factor" alone as there are other artists that I much prefer ;-). I think of it more as a girls name, probably because names ending in '-isse' or '-issa' tend to be girls names. If you wanted to differentiate it a little for your girl, maybe try the more feminine Matissa. Then it also lends itself to cute nicknames Mattie or Tissa.

If you have no problems with the nay-sayers who think it is a little pretentious (but would only say so behind your back, most likely) then this could be just the unique but not unheard of - or made up - name that you have been looking for. I can't see this hitting the top 10 or even top 100 any time soon, so you can be sure that this is one your child will not share with 5 other children in their classroom.