Keren
- Name
Keren David
- About Me
I'm a British YA author. My first book When I Was Joe was published in the UK in January 2010 and is coming out in the US in September 2010. The sequel Almost True will be published in the UK in September 2010. I blog at www.wheniwasjoe.blogspot.com
- My Favorite Names
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- My Recent Blog Comments
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By the way, did you know about this? http://names.darkgreener.com/#l
Agree with Valerie that combo names weren't very popular in England when we were growing up, but they're a lot more popular now. Lily-May, Louella...I met a Chelsea-May the other day.
I like Avel - but I did think it was Ayvel. How about Arvel to make it clearer? or is that something different with an American accent?
I would watch out for Avel/Alanna though. They look a little too similar to me.
my husband and I both liked the name Alicia, but wouldn't consider it for our daughter because we weren't sure whether to pronounce it Al-ee-sha or Aliss-ee-a. We thought the latter, but we thought she'd be driven mad by the former.
@zoerhenne Yes, LOVE this thread..I agree, all Chimu's matches are perfect. It's only really Evander and Dashiell I object to, as not British at all. Instead of Dashiell, I'd offer you Denzil - except it's Welsh, so it sits a little oddly with Alistair. I have an Alistair confession! There's a minor character called Alistair in my first book. It wasn't until my mum read the proof copy of my second book - in which he also appears - that she pointed out that half the time he was Alistair and the other half Alastair. I was convinced that she was wrong and that only the occasional Alastair had slipped through...but when I counted it was exactly 50/50. And then, much to my horror, I realised that was the case for the already published first book as well. No one - editor, proof reader, me - had realised, and not one reader of the first edition ever mentioned it. Thankfully now it has been corrected. Sibs for Barack - Barak in Hebrew is lightening, so I'm thinking weather names - Sunny, Rain, Storm perhaps?
@zoerhenne Ah, the subtleties of the British class system! Colin and Graeme both hopelessly middle class to my ear, whilst your upper class 'Jeeves' names might be Archie, Bertie, George, Humphrey, Algernon, Percy etc. (Not, however, Alistair, which is more Scottish). (Jeeves himself was called Reginald, which is indeed more middle class, but from an older era. I suppose a valet born in 1950 or so would have been called Colin or Graeme - although there aren't many around any more - but I sense you are thinking employer rather than manservant). As for Dashiell, to us English, it is only really known in the context of Dashiell Hamnett. And Evander, only known as Evander Holyfield. Both of whom are very American. Fraser is a great sib for Alistair, as is Rowena.
I'm British and I've never ever heard the name Evander used in any British context. I'd think it was very American.Likewise Dashiell. Colin and Graeme are middle-aged men's names in Britain...but I know you Americans think they are stylish and classy. We think they are plumbers or builders. All the girls' names work though, with the possible exception of Penelope, which in the UK would be posh and old-fashioned English..not Scottish. Fiona works better. Eilidh is another lovely Scottish girl's name.
I got Trinity right! And I think that Augustus was very close to Atticus, and Phoebe or Kitty just as good a fit as Lucy. Alistair is very Scottish - how about Lachlan, Finlay, Iain, Murdo, Kirsty, Fiona, Ailsa or Morven?
I find it utterly repellent and wrong that parents call their children after weapons - why would you do that? I love Jedidiah, and even more the Hebrew version - Yedidya, which always feels like a bit of teen slang.
Agree about Pippa and Adele. I think Katniss is going to be big when the Hunger Games movie comes out. As for boys..Bieber?
Brilliant post. Now I'm wondering about Bob's friends, in particular Wendy and Spud.
Another wonderful post! From a British perspective those 'gentleman' names - Anthony, Gavin and Andrew are all very 1960s/70s. Hailey and Allison (which we'd spell Hayley and Alison) too. Surname names are mostly for the boys in the UK - we don't really go for androgynous names for girls, although we're keener on them for boys, funnily enough. I can't believe that Brooklyn is a girl's name!
@lipsis How about Natan for a boy? Israeli form of Nathan. I agree with the Canadian poster who says that Alfie, Charlie etc are seen as sexy/laddish as well as cute. I think the trajectory goes cute baby- sexy young man - friendly and approachable old man. Nicknames are fine in top jobs - we have a prime minister and deputy called Dave and Nick. My neighbours have a classic English family: Rosie, Ted and baby Beatrix.
Alfred is so unusual in the UK - and it's so normal for people to have 'nickname' names...can't see that happening at all.
Oh and I don't think Imogen is Welsh, because the 'g' in Welsh would be pronounced differently.
Oh, thank you, thank you for this post! I know a Holly May (although not hyphenated) and a Molly May. And many, many Ellies,Alfies and Finlays. Never met a Kenzie though. One factor you don't mention is class - ever present in British society. Lily-May would be more working class than Lily May. Nigel, Graham, Derek, Victoria - these are all names for the 50+ age group in England. I remember another British friend and I aghast when an American friend named her child Derek ('Derek! How bizarre! It's a plumber's name!) - our babies were called Bunty and Judah. I think the UK is nickname centric because we don't like the formality of the past, and we don;t want any danger of a cute Alfie being saddled with Alfred at any point in his life. I very nearly had an Alfie..definitely my favourite name if I had a fantasy late baby. I'm an author writing teen novels - I'm going to keep this list in mind. My books are very British, the names might as well be too!
Ok, just been looking at the England and Wales lists to see if I can back up my assertion that we Brits love the -ie ending, especially for girls. I think it's just that we love the -ie/-ee/-ey sound at the end of a name. In the girls' list (of most popular baby names 2010) 24 of the top 100 end in that -ie sound. They are: Evie, Maisie, Daisy, Poppy, Ellie, Millie, Lacey, Lilly, Molly, Emily, Lily, Sophie, Gracie, Amelie, Bethany, Chloe, Phoebe, Zoe, Libby, Maisy, Lucy. And in the boys' 13. Harry, Alfie, Charlie, Archie, freddie, Jammie, Ollie, Bobby, Louie, Toby, Riley, Stanley, Bailey, Finlay, Zachary.
@TKB Alfie is a great name I think. Very mainstream in the UK - but as you'll see from the lists, we Brits love diminutives, for girls and boys...much more than those all-American surname-names or Androgynous names. We still slightly regret not picking it for our son (He is Judah Ariel, but we both really liked Alfie Judah too) @Coll. Demelza is a Cornish name, from Cornwall in the west of England. In the 1970s there was a really popular drama series on television called Poldark,based on the novels by Winston Graham and it was set in Cornwall. There were great names - Demelza, Morwenna, Ross, Zacky, Bartholemew - and even a Keren, thrillingly so for me (aged 12) although the more usual Cornish name would be Kerensa.
The name stats for England and Wales 2010 came out today http://www.statistics.gov.uk/cci/nugget.asp?id=184 For me the big stories are the rise of Maisie/Maisy and Kai for a boy - presumably after the baby son of footballer Wayne Rooney. Would love to know your view of these stats, and how they compare to American trends.
And no Madeleine? That's how I'd spell it.