Valerie
- Name
Valerie
- About Me
I'm a Brit living in California with my Californian husband, teaching and coaching musicians (students and pros). I'm a former concert pianist, who is dealing with myofascial pain syndrome. In 2006, we had a son, James Valentine, who only lived three days, and we have not succeeded in having another. We are now in the process of healing, and discovering ways to bring meaning to our lives through art, creativity, fun and being of service. I've been a Name Enthusiast since the age of 5, when I used to line up my 28 stuffed animals and play "Animal School" with my friends. Animal School consisted mainly of making a register of all the animals' names, by which time it was usually time for my friends to go home. The next time they came round, the old register had lost its shine and we of course had to start making a new one. As a teen, I pored daily over the London Times birth announcements, and made collated the results religiously. Meanwhile, my friend Keren (also a contributor to this awesome blog) was doing the same with the "Jewish Chronicle". We compared notes avidly, and many years later still relish some good old NE talk whenever possible. Now I've spent time on both sides of the Atlantic, I love to compare how Brits and Americans think about and use names, words and phrases. I really enjoy exchanging ideas with everyone here, and learning from you all.
- My Favorite Names
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- My Recent Blog Comments
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Laura- great post, again. Although I can't say I'm fond of any of these! Shani- maybe you're thinking of Jedidiah? That's definitely Biblical, so has an ancient pedigree. http://www.behindthename.com/name/jedidiah
P.S. I actually recommend the Uffizi website for hours of fun. How about this excerpt? "The deposit rooms are areas out of bounds to the public. These rooms not dirty dungeons but clean halls where the art works are neatly stacked. In these very deposits there are many paintings that deserve to be displayed but due to lack of space in the museum this does not materialize."
Laura- love this post! Yes, I've noticed that when I translate Facebook posts from my Swedish friends, it translates their children's names also- e.g. Charles John for Karl Johan. In the same vein, I recently visited Florence, and in preparation I was reading the Uffizi Gallery website. Well, whoever put together the English version was relying heavily on some kind of translation software (strange of one of the most famous art museums in the world not to at least run the text by one of the many English speakers in Florence). At one point, the website mentioned Caravaggio's famous painting "Head of Jellyfish" (http://uffizi.com/uffizi-gallery-caravaggio-room.asp ) I was mystified and eventually had the brainwave to put 'jellyfish' into google translate, ask for the Italian translation, and up popped... Medusa!
Fascinating as always, Laura- thanks! Olivia is reported as the top girls' name in the UK again- complete report for 2010 here: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-14321666
Hi everyone, I just stopped back after a very long time away too and was glad to do a little catching up. Congrats to all the new parents! I've been super busy as my husband and I moved (back in my case, first time in his case) to the UK. In answer to the Hermione question, it's never been a well known name in the UK either, so I can imagine there were a lot of Her-mee-own pronunciations here too! Also, in terms of Rosalind/Rosamund, I've only ever heard the Roz pronunciation here. Both names were reasonably well known for girls in the early part of the 20th Century. I adore both names. Philippa, however, is very well known here, a real classic, and I have only ever heard it pronounced as PHIL-i-ppa. I challenge someone to find me a phi-LIP-pa, in fact (although I can understand why one might hazard that pronunciation as a guess). It breaks the rule of RO-bert/ro-BERT-a, but matches the rule of E-ric/ER-i-ca. Hmm, maybe there is no rule!
Great topic- that's so funny. I just discovered a fabulous set of middle names and was about to post them when I discovered I am actually on topic! I discovered on wikipedia, arriving by a roundabout route, that Clarissa Dickson Wright, the English chef and TV personality, is actually: Clarissa Theresa Philomena Aileen Mary Josephine Agnes Elsie Trilby Louise Esmerelda Dickson Wright. Awesome!
@Robyn- thanks for sharing those names. Rhenn@issance is.... umm.... NMS! Leur@ is actually the name of a small town in the Blue Mountains in Australia- I've been there! Thought you would all be interested in this short exchange from an interview of a sportswoman named Kara Goucher in the NYT about being a mother: "Q. With his name, is Colt destined to run? A. I fell in love with that name. I thought, He’ll be my little stallion. Adam said name him Colton, in case he wants to be a businessman. We call him Colt anyway." Seems like another case of adding a suffix to make the name sound more formal a la Grayson.
alr- I love Daphne with Mabel and Ephrem, I also wanted to mention, as you like Nell, that I have a friend with a four-year-old Nell and in her case it's short for Eleanor, which I also think fits with your other two. Good luck with whatever you choose!
My cousin Cynthia and her husband Jim had a daughter named J@cinthe, the French version of Hyacinth and also a kind of mash-up, I guess!
Oh, that reminds me, when I was a kid, I 'invented' the name Melina Sarcophagus for a character in a story. I found out only a few years ago that Melina is a real name (Greek) and I actually think the last name fits really well, as it is also of Greek origin (I knew the last name was a word, BTW.). alr- I agree, personally, I wouldn't have used a name so close to the name of my sister's child. It actually came up originally when the sister was pregnant, and I think they just both got stubborn. They do have different last names and live in different states.... and everyone gets along really well, which is really the most important thing.
Wow, Laura, I'm amazed that parents say to you, "I made up this name, can you tell me what it means?" If they made up a word, would they ask someone else what it meant? Mind-blowing. However, I can understand that if they subsequently happened to discover a meaning they might be pleased, as you say. What an interesting subject, and beautifully explored, as always. It reminds me of a conversation I had with a friend whose sister had named their baby girl Abri3lla. I asked him whether she had made it up and he immediately said quite vehemently, "Oh no, it means "mother of all nations" in Italian." I didn't say anything to him, but was quietly very skeptical. I did some research myself and discovered that Abraham apparently means "father of a multitude" in Hebrew, and that Abra exists as a female name. In some books, it is therefore extrapolated that Abra means "mother of a multitude", and of course the -ella suffix is typically Italian. I still think it's pushing things quite far to say that it *means* "mother of many nations" in Italian. A bit like saying that because Charles comes from Carl, originally meaning a man (in fact a kind of manservant), then Charlotte means 'womanly'. Incidentally, this friend then had a baby named Ari3lla, much to his sister's chagrin. He insists that it had been his favorite name for years. The cousins are a year apart, and both families seem to be coping ok!
Wow, Laura, interesting just how much the press has veered off topic here. Thanks for bringing our attention to it. And now, drum roll please! One of my husband's friends from university just had his first child, a boy named (and I will certainly have to do some substitutions here as this name will be very googlable): Lys@nder Y@nnick Seb@stian A$h N3reus D@niel End3r R_________. Note the initials also. The surname is German, they're taking the wife's name. Y@nnick is from Y@nn, a Breton variation on John. I think many people will have heard of the tennis player of that name. According to Behind the Name, N3reus is "derived from Greek νηρος (neros) meaning "water". In Greek myth this was the name of a god of the sea, the father of the Nereids." And End3r is Turkish, meaning 'very rare'. Also famous from a science fiction series. My first reaction was incredulity, but now that I'm getting used to it, I like most of the names used, and that they all have a pedigree. I'm very fond of Lys@nder, and think that the first three names have a nice flow to them. Very artsy. What do you think?
Yes, let's have a future King Arthur! That would be fantastic!
Eo- I can bet on one name they will use (probably for a middle)- Diana. But then, as the tradition seems to be to have four given names, there's plenty of room! I like your idea of Alexandra also- as there aren't any in the current generation AFAIK.
Oh, I take it back, I just read another fantastic name- a young French actress named Clémence Poésy. Oh how I wish I'd been called that!
I would presume they had to contact the author to make a change like that. But personally, I don;t like it. Interesting topic! And veering off topic for a moment, I would like to nominate my name of the day: a guy from the Netherlands named... Beer van Geer.
Eo- Yes, I agree Buddy Oliver works pretty well as a musician or chef... but Buddy is pretty unknown as a name (or word) in the UK. I think of it as very American. They certainly like to go out on a limb!
CCSmith- I love those three names together too. Serena and Lydia have always been particular favorites of mine.
Couldn't resist sharing the name of Jamie Oliver's new baby son: Buddy Bear Maurice (born 15 September 2010), brother to daughters Poppy Honey Rosie, Daisy Boo Pamela, and Petal Blossom Rainbow. Well...at least they harmonize.... Actually, I like Petal, Blossom, Rosie and Daisy, but do feel they have a cute toddler vibe, which might be hard to live with as an adult. Judge Daisy Boo or President Petal Blossom, anyone?
Oh Miriam, trust you to come up with some fabulous suggestions! I love Xanthe in particular, I always have. Ditto Ianthe. Zenobia unfortunately reminds me of Xenophobia. Cornelia is nice, except for the nn Corny. chipper28- glad you are feeling much better! I like Aurelia and Aletheia. How are you pronouncing the latter? ah-LEE-thee-a or ah-leh-THEE-a?