Blush

Photo courtesy of Sandra Bianco Photography

West Indies cricketer Chris Gayle was in the headlines this week for announcing that he had named his new baby daughter Blush.

The reason this has caused such a stir is two fold. Firstly, there is the name itself. As with almost any time someone in the public eye dares to use a name not deemed "normal" there are plenty of people declaring it to be wrong. They say things like "that's not a name!", "surely that's not right!" and the inevitable "is this a joke?".

Except in this case the context of this particular person naming his baby Blush gives people extra cause to wonder if it is a joke. Which brings us to the second reason it has caused such a stir. In January this year Gayle caused controversy for his sexism towards a female sports reporter. He had been flirting with her in a post game interview and made the comment "don't blush, baby" as she tried to ignore his unwanted flirtations. He tried to brush it off as being a joke, but was fined for his unprofessional conduct.

Reportedly this name is also a joke though, and his child is instead a boy (not named Blush). Which would mean that while Gayle may think that his tweets of "We would like to welcome the arrival of our beautiful daughter 'Blush'" and "Thank you all for the sweet and kind messages. Blush won't Blush, my baby" are funny, he has sadly learned very little from the whole incident. Which makes sense as "don't blush, baby" has basically become his signature catchphrase.

The overpoweringly negative reaction to the name Blush is interesting though. Let's take a step back for a minute. If someone had actually named their daughter Blush, and didn't have the background with the word that Gayle does, is it really that bad as a name?

I saw a discussion about the story on morning TV where one person used the extreme insult of "It's akin to child abuse" (I hate it when people use that phrase as an argument against a particular name. Seriously, a ridiculous - in your opinion - name does not automatically equal abuse. Such statements just trivialise the very serious subject of child abuse. But that's a discussion for another place and time).

The more considered argument I heard against naming your baby Blush was that as it's a word commonly associated with shy, young, awkward girls it would be belittling to give a female this name. Furthermore, it would be hard for an adult woman to be taken seriously with a name for an involuntary physical reaction, especially within a professional environment.

Which I understand and agree with. And is why I feel kinda bad for saying that I think Blush would actually be quite pretty as a name. It has a sweetly romantic feel, and makes me think of other soft pink flowery names like Bloom, Blossom or Posey. I could totally see it as a possible name should Jules and Jamie Oliver's next child be a girl.

But I think this is one that is best left for a surprising and demure middle name. And listening to the general reaction when Gayle announced the name (be it the real name or not), it's safe to say that most people would also prefer not to see Blush as a first name.

Awesome Middle Name

Have the perfect first name, but scratching your head trying to think of an awesome middle name? Well, how about just using Awesome? One mother is Juneau is hoping to do just that. No, it's not intended as a pun name. It's actually quite a sweet story, and worth checking out. The original story is here.

Believe it or not, Awesome charted as a first name for boys in 2010 (6 boys), 2011 (7 boys) and 2012 (6 boys). Personally I think using it as a middle is cool and funky, but it feels a little over inflated as a first name. But then again, similar names that have charted include King, Queen, Prince, Princess, Major, Regal, Majesty, Majestic, Marvel, Star, Glorious, Great, Beautiful, Brilliant, Divine, Champion, Boss, Epic, Legend and Royal (here's looking at you Lil' Kim). It's enough to make Awesome seem almost modest in comparison!

Rook

Photo courtesy of Tumblr

From one bird related name to an actual bird name. This is one I first noticed in a birth announcement in February this year at Waltzing More Than Matilda. It caught my eye as interesting at the time, but I didn't really think much more than that. But for some reason it has slowly been growing on me, and I'm starting to think there is more to this powerful little nature name than meets the eye.

As a bird, Rooks are related to Ravens and Crows, both of which have a history of being associated with Halloween. Ravens in particular are popular in Halloween iconography. It's thought in many cultures that because these birds feed on carrion, they are a link between life and death. Some think they contain lost souls, others say ghosts of murdered people and some say they were messengers from the gods. To see one was considered a good omen by some, but an ill omen by many others.

The benefit of using Rook rather than Raven or Crow/Crowe as a name though is that its' connection is much subtler, a little less "dark" than the other two, possibly because it has plenty of other meanings. The Rook is also a chess piece (named from the Persian work rukh meaning 'chariot'), a card game, a piercing in the antihelix of the ear, a cheat or swindler, a type of rocket and a shortened slang term for a rookie (someone who is new to a job or activity). In pop culture he is a moving castle character in the video game 'Demigod', and a character in 'Ben 10' - sure to make a young Rook happy.

I've seen Rook described by various people as cool, modern, strong, fierce, fresh, unique, romantic and adventurous. It certainly is rare - it first charted in the U.S just over a decade ago, and in 2012 was given to only 24 boys. If you like the idea of Rook but think the K ending is a bit abrupt, Rooker is a possible alternative, or Roderick with the nickname Rook is a distinguished choice.

I also have to admit to having a more personal reason for liking Rook - my name is Brooke, and I adore the idea of using Rook as a middle for a son because it contains elements of my name. It could also work to honour any Brooks' or Brooklyns, or of course and Ravens or Crow/Crowes in the family. And of course I love a nature name.

If you like your boys names to be short, spunky and unexpected, Rook is definitely worth a second look.

Six

Jenna Von Oy, who played teenager Six in 90's show 'Blossom'

Six would be an inspired if not extremely quirky Halloween name. From the paranormal "sixth sense" to being buried "six feet under", this is one number with a lot of sway in the world of all things scary.

Perhaps most significantly, the number 666 is popularly recognised as being "The Number of the Beast", and therefore a symbol of the Devil. It features prominently in many apocalyptic theories and is often used as a reference in pop culture to convey a sense of ominousity and sinister happenings. One such TV show is ABC's new '666 Park Avenue'. The show stars Australian actress Rachel Taylor and Terry O'Quinn (famous for his role as the obsessive Locke in 'Lost'), and is basically about people selling their souls to the devil to make their dreams come true, a notion popularly associated with this symbol. To be honest though, I'm not sure that you would even be allowed by most governments to name your child 666, even if you would want to go with such an extreme moniker.

The much simpler Six however is not totally outrageous, or for that matter out of the question. Back in the early 90's, Jenna Von Oy played the fast talking teenager Six LeMeure on the hit show 'Blossom'. Almost everyone knew who Six was. The show made Joey Lawrence a star, but was based around teen girl Blossom (played by Mayim Bialik, now starring in the hugely successful 'Big Bang Theory') and her best friend Six. Both were lovable if not slightly daggy, and often misguided. The character of Six reportedly got her name because she was - funnily enough - the sixth child in the family. Between the two names of Blossom and Six, this was one of the first shows that made young girls start to dream of one day using different and unusual names for their future children. Or maybe that was just me.

Six has a lot going for it other than its Halloween connections. It is also a pretty special number in mathematics, music (for example, a guitar has six strings), Judaism, Islam, science, sports, and astronomy. The Chinese consider it to be a very lucky number. In fact, it's hard to find an area where 6 does not have some significance. This could make it a great middle name to remember or signify something special in your lives, such as a shared memory or something your hold dear. It even has that cool "x" sound.

Having said all that though, I'm not sure that I'd highly recommend using Six as a first name. Especially in you live in New Zealand, where the accent makes it sound like a different word entirely to the rest of us. And please don't give it to your sixth child, the way poor Six's parent did on 'Blossom'. It just shows you don't care enough to think of something more inspired.

One Syllable "AY" Names

One syllable names are great things. They can be cute and spunky. They can be simple and lovely on girls, or abrupt and strong on boys. As first names, they can balance out a long, complicated surname. Or as middle names they have help tone down a long or "frilly" first name, and often they help to create that highly desired "flow" between a first name and a surname. And they're perfect for parent hoping to head off undesirable nicknames.

If you're after a one syllable name, a great resource is the e-book '1-Syllable Baby Names', written by Nancy Mann and available at Nancy's Baby Names. In it she outlines the 100 most popular one syllable baby names (for girls and boys) in America in 2011. I was reading through it the other day when I was struck by how many of these names contain an "AY" sound. I shouldn't really be surprised, because when I think about it most of my own favourite one syllable names contain this sound, such as Paige, Sage and Dane. Even my husband's name falls into this category. I like the sound of these names, so I can understand why so many others do too.

So listed here are the names that meet this criteria that appeared in the top 1000 last year, as per Nancy's book. I've changed the order slightly to include various spellings of the same name as one entry. Where a name does have various spelling, they are written in order of popularity.

                    GIRLS                                                      BOYS
                    Grace/Grayce                                            James
                    Faith/Fayth                                               Chase
                    Jade/Jayde/Jaide                                       Jace/Jayce/Jase
                    Paige                                                         Blake
                    Kate/Cate                                                  Jake
                    Jane/Jayne                                                Gage
                    Sage/Saige                                                Lane/Layne
                    Rayne/Rain/Raine/Reign                             Shane
                    Maeve                                                       Drake
                    Mae/May/Mai                                            Zane
                    Shea/Shay/Shae                                        Cade/Kade
                    Blake                                                        Frank
                    Layne/Laine/Lane                                      Trey
                    Faye                                                          Tate
                    Chase                                                        Jay
                    Rae                                                           Kane
                                                                                     Wade
                                                                                     Ace
                                                                                     Blaine
                                                                                     Trace
                                                                                     Kale
                                                                                     Case
                                                                                     Dane

At this point there are a couple of observations I'd like to make. Firstly, only three names on this list were used for both girls and boys - Chase, Blake and Lane. In all three cases, more males were given the name than females were.

the next is that there were fewer girls names, but they varied the most, as almost all names were used with more than one spelling. Comparatively, only three of the boys names had more than one spelling, and only one name - Blaine - used the "ai" combination that is so popular with the girls. Do we see "ai" as more feminine? Are we more open to experimenting with our girls names than boys names? And for those who think there are more "good" girls names than boys, it seems this would be one category where that is not the case, judging from the length of the boys list.

If this has whet your appetite, but you prefer names that are a little less commonly used, then here are some more for you to think about:

Babe                              Haig                        Pace                         Thane
Bay/Bai                          Hale                       Payne/Paine               Trail
Blaise                             Haze                       Praise                       Twain
Craig                              Kane                       Quade/Quaid             Vale
Dale                               Kay                         Rafe                           Wales
Day                               Lake                        Slade                          Wray
Flame                            Mace                       Slate                           Yale
Gale/Gail                      Maine                      Swain                         Zade/Zaid/Zayd
Gray/Grey                     Nate                        Taye/Tay                    Zale
   

Snow

Here is Australia, it is currently the middle of winter, and this year it feels like it's been a long one. But Winter can be very beautiful, and some of the names inspired by this season are some of the coolest (sorry the pun) around. Frost and Winter both have their charms. But my favourite - and perhaps the most fun - is Snow.

Snow is one that has been getting a lot of attention lately, most often as a middle name but also occasionally as a first. There are a few TV shows and movies using this name recently that have contributed to the recent popularity of Snow as a sweet and interesting nature name. Not one but two Snow White movies were released this year - "Mirror, Mirror" and "Snow White and the Huntsman". Both had very beautiful Snow Whites, and superstar powers playing the evil queen in the form of Julia Roberts and Charlize Theron, respectively. As a side note, Charlizes character has the gorgeous name Ravenna, one I may look into in more depth at another time. And it's Charlizes birthday today - Happy Birthday Charlize Theron!

On TV, Ginnifer Goodwin portrays yet another Snow White in "Once Upon A Time". It's arguably Ginnifer's Snow White character that is doing the most to raise the profile of Snow as a name. Ginnifer's Snow is delicate, caring and sweet, but brave, independent and strong. She is one of the most pivotal characters of the show, with the love between her and Prince Charming and the acute feeling of her loss as she is trapped in the 'real' world providing one of the most compelling story lines of the show.

With the strong connection to Snow White, many could be forgiven for thinking that Snow could only work as a girls name. But Snow could work equally well for a boy. One character waving the flag for a boy Snow is Jon Snow from "Game Of Thrones". Jon is a pivotal character throughout the show and the books. The bastard son of one of the most noble houses of the land, Jon has been raised to respect and uphold the values of his father, the great Eddard Stark. He has grown learning how to be a member of the nobility, while forever being denied the benefits and position that being a Stark would bring. Yet he remains steadfast and loyal to his brothers, and shows many qualities befitting a good and noble leader. His quiet strength lends a great deal to the appeal of being a Snow.

These great examples on the screen help to imbue the name Snow with highly valued characteristics such as tenacity, strength, honour and compassion in many people's minds. Combine these perceived qualities with a word used to describe one of the most beautiful and magical things nature has to offer and you have one special name. No wonder Snow is starting to become a name favoured by parents looking for a sweet but strong, crisp and beautiful nature name.

Zenobia

'Queen Zenobia's Last Look Upon Palmyra', painting by Herbert Gustave Schmalz

I've seen this name mentioned lately and find myself strangely drawn to it. One of the main attractions of the name Zenobia is that it is exotic sounding, without being too weird. It evokes images of perfume scented nights in the African desert. It is queenly, and quietly calm and regal because it starts with the word Zen.

Zenobia (pronounced ze-NOH-bee-ah) is most famous for being the name of a Queen of Palmyra in the 3rd century. She was said to be descended from Cleopatra, led a revolt against the Roman Empire and ruled Egypt until she was defeated and taken as a hostage to Rome by Emperor Aurelian. Pretty cool, right?

As a name, Zenobia has Greek origins and means 'the life of Zeus'. It has been used for characters in books, operas, movies and a ballet. It has also flirted with celebrity baby name fame, as Tina Fey chose it as the middle name for her first daughter Alice Zenobia, honouring her mother who is also named Zenobia. It's also one of the few examples of a longer girls name that isn't frilly sounding (such as names ending with etta, ella, bella or issa), which can be good for parents after a longer name to make a full name flow better but not necessarily after an "old fashioned girly-girl" name.

Likely to be more often used as an adventurous middle name for a plainer first name, Zenobia shouldn't be overlooked as a potentially fantastic first name with some great nickname potential. Bee, Bia, Zee, Zia or Zen could all be cute but spunky shorter versions for those willing to give it a try. It would certainly be a distinctive name for any little girl, would age well and wouldn't be instantly thought of as belonging to girls from a certain decade in fifty years time.

Spotted - Denver Anton & Zelda Gypsy Jane

While having a squiz at the birth announcements in the Melbourne Herald Sun yesterday, two names struck me as particularly inspiring - Denver Anton and Zelda Gypsy Jane! I'd like to start with a congratulations to the lucky new parents, and their adventurous naming choices.

We don't get many Denver's here is Australia. The only examples that spring to mind is the last name of country singer John Denver, or the 80's cartoon 'Denver: The Last Dinosaur' (I have the theme song running through my mind right now!). I'll add here that I have very fond memories of the show, which is possibly why it made me smile when I saw this name in use.


Denver The Last Dinosaur

I really like the sound of Denver, and the much more traditional Anton makes this combination sound a little more grown up - grounded but not boring. It brings to mind images of someone cool but smart.

Denver is actually an English/French place name meaning 'from Anvers', while Anton is a German/Scandinavian version of Anthony, which means 'priceless one'. Such a beautiful meaning.



Zelda, Twilight Princess

Zelda Gypsy Jane on the other hand just drips with spunk.

Zelda was popular in the early 1900's, but has been rarely used since the 1970's. The popular Nintendo Game 'The Legend of Zelda:Twilight Princess' increased the recognisability of the name, but hasn't seemed to have given it a huge boost in popularity. Although it did inspire Robin Williams to name his daughter Zelda Rae.

With the association of Zelda with a video game princess, the romanticism conjured by the word Gypsy and Jane's lovely meaning of 'god's gracious gift', Zelda Gypsy Jane is a distinctive name that evokes positive images for most. It also has the benefit of being unusual without a "I think they made that name up" vibe. Plus it's a great use of the steadily rising two middle names trend, a practice that is giving baby name lovers a chance to create truly unique combos and the opportunity to use more of the names they love.