To ride briefly to GRRM's defence, the dog Nymeria is named after a historical woman in the text. How many of these new parents are across the Rhoynish lore, though?
'kin 'ell, thanks for This Index of Horror ... my prospective Pekingese is to be called Harbottle. ... It will be interesting to see how the Progressive Rump names its kids in the many (please God) years of obscurity coming its way. What will the replacements, if any, be for India and Poppy in Crouch End and London-on-Severn? Praps some conservatism will obtain?
I work in a primary school in a white working class area, and there are three girls in the reception class this year with -Mae names (like Daisy-Mae). I'm not sure what the most popular girls' name in our school is, but it might be Lexi.
Bonnie Blue is the name of Scarlett's daughter in Gone With the Wind. Maybe you already knew this, but I only watched the film for the first time last month.
I have no problem with names like Jazzleen or Khaleesi - they have a nice sound!
I've met an Arwen - she's 16. According to her father, he wanted to call her younger brother Frodo but his wife disagreed.
Why would Asuka peak in 1998, but Shinji in 2014?
Nymeria is a human name in Westeros (she was a historical princess), and Arya's pet is a direwolf, not a dog (I think it makes a difference).
I checked: 154 different “-Mae” names in 2024, the most popular being Elsie-Mae, Ivy-Mae, and Isla-Mae; so it looks like a way to spice up already popular names.
Lexi only ranks at 263rd in 2024, but has been rising rapidly (from zero in 1998)
“Bonnie Blue” is originally derived from a nickname for the Confederate flag during the American Civil War - hard to decide which association is the least salubrious
The “Bonnie Blue Flag” was also a very popular Confederate marching song (a fairly educational one, as it lists all the seceding states in order) and referred to an unofficial early flag (a single white star in the center of a blue field).
It’s not however the battle flag one now typically associates as the “Confederate Flag”. Ironically if you saw a “Bonnie Blue Flag” today you’d probably think it was the virtually identical flag of Somalia.
So between that and recency bias, I’d go with the adult film star as being the more ignominious association.
As to Asuka/Shinji - it’s such small numbers, I think it’s just random variation. 1998 in the aftermath of the original shows, 2015 coincides with the rebuilds.
I want to return to — if I like a name, such as Erik, and it’s a diminutive of something else, such as Frederick, I just give them the whole name even if it’s “clunky” for a child. They will grow into it and have a lot of options for what they want to be called.
When I first moved to Sweden I thought the 'name law' we have here was an affront to liberty, but nowadays it doesn't seem like such a bad idea. Here's some names that got rejected in the last couple of years:
Despot
Great
Legend
Punk
Dove queen
Fimpen ('cigarette butt' in English)
Sudden
Loveless
Interestingly they also rejected some clearly acceptable but non-Swedish names like Nguyen, Rahmanovic etc. But that's likely because they're typically surnames and not first names. Maybe the parents just filled out the form wrong.
You might also be interested in a Swedish study on men with so-called 'Y-names' - anglo names ending with a Y like Ronny, Sonny, Jimmy, Conny, Tommy etc. They're stereotypical low-status names and the study found men with these names are overrepresented among criminals. Kind of the Swedish equivalent of the French 'Kevin' I guess: https://arc.hhs.se/download.aspx?MediumId=1047
Great post, except for the Leo slander. It's Latin for 'Lion', there were emperors named Leo, the current pope chose the name Leo! It's a great name on its own and doesn't need to be short for Leonard.
Fair's fair, Eowyn could be passed off as a variant spelling of Owen/Owain/Owein/Eowen/Eouan/Euan/Ewen/Ewan/Eoghan/Eoghann/Ewein/Yuein/Ouein/Ywein (Welsh and Gaelic forms and anglicisations of Owen (originally Eugene)
Considering the, ahem, make-up of “Britain” these days, a massive increase in naming your kid Lucifer makes sense. It’s only in the past 10 years that the name has been used (out of nearly 1,000 in English history).
Isla is an interesting case because among Anglophone countries it’s top-tier popular in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, but middling in Canada (12th) and the US (32nd). Meanwhile the rest of the top girls names have much more commonality across all English speaking countries.
Olivia, Amelia, Charlotte, Mia, Ava are a common core set.
“Ivy” is another name that is currently popular in the UK but less so outside it.
To be fair, Shinji is a perfectly normal Japanese name. It would only be weird if his parents were weebs.
To ride briefly to GRRM's defence, the dog Nymeria is named after a historical woman in the text. How many of these new parents are across the Rhoynish lore, though?
I will consider myself fact-checked
'kin 'ell, thanks for This Index of Horror ... my prospective Pekingese is to be called Harbottle. ... It will be interesting to see how the Progressive Rump names its kids in the many (please God) years of obscurity coming its way. What will the replacements, if any, be for India and Poppy in Crouch End and London-on-Severn? Praps some conservatism will obtain?
Harbottle doesn’t appear in the record (both “Harbour” and “Harbor” do).
Poppy is still going strong, still at eighth place!
I work in a primary school in a white working class area, and there are three girls in the reception class this year with -Mae names (like Daisy-Mae). I'm not sure what the most popular girls' name in our school is, but it might be Lexi.
Bonnie Blue is the name of Scarlett's daughter in Gone With the Wind. Maybe you already knew this, but I only watched the film for the first time last month.
I have no problem with names like Jazzleen or Khaleesi - they have a nice sound!
I've met an Arwen - she's 16. According to her father, he wanted to call her younger brother Frodo but his wife disagreed.
Why would Asuka peak in 1998, but Shinji in 2014?
Nymeria is a human name in Westeros (she was a historical princess), and Arya's pet is a direwolf, not a dog (I think it makes a difference).
I checked: 154 different “-Mae” names in 2024, the most popular being Elsie-Mae, Ivy-Mae, and Isla-Mae; so it looks like a way to spice up already popular names.
Lexi only ranks at 263rd in 2024, but has been rising rapidly (from zero in 1998)
“Bonnie Blue” is originally derived from a nickname for the Confederate flag during the American Civil War - hard to decide which association is the least salubrious
The “Bonnie Blue Flag” was also a very popular Confederate marching song (a fairly educational one, as it lists all the seceding states in order) and referred to an unofficial early flag (a single white star in the center of a blue field).
It’s not however the battle flag one now typically associates as the “Confederate Flag”. Ironically if you saw a “Bonnie Blue Flag” today you’d probably think it was the virtually identical flag of Somalia.
So between that and recency bias, I’d go with the adult film star as being the more ignominious association.
As to Asuka/Shinji - it’s such small numbers, I think it’s just random variation. 1998 in the aftermath of the original shows, 2015 coincides with the rebuilds.
More parents need to show the bravery of allowing their children to name themselves
I want to return to — if I like a name, such as Erik, and it’s a diminutive of something else, such as Frederick, I just give them the whole name even if it’s “clunky” for a child. They will grow into it and have a lot of options for what they want to be called.
I’m with you. Possibly my biggest naming pet peeve is diminutives instead of the full name.
Okay, Khalessi, Mabel, and Ivy have been the names of influential fictional characters around the late 2010s
When I first moved to Sweden I thought the 'name law' we have here was an affront to liberty, but nowadays it doesn't seem like such a bad idea. Here's some names that got rejected in the last couple of years:
Despot
Great
Legend
Punk
Dove queen
Fimpen ('cigarette butt' in English)
Sudden
Loveless
Interestingly they also rejected some clearly acceptable but non-Swedish names like Nguyen, Rahmanovic etc. But that's likely because they're typically surnames and not first names. Maybe the parents just filled out the form wrong.
You might also be interested in a Swedish study on men with so-called 'Y-names' - anglo names ending with a Y like Ronny, Sonny, Jimmy, Conny, Tommy etc. They're stereotypical low-status names and the study found men with these names are overrepresented among criminals. Kind of the Swedish equivalent of the French 'Kevin' I guess: https://arc.hhs.se/download.aspx?MediumId=1047
Great post, except for the Leo slander. It's Latin for 'Lion', there were emperors named Leo, the current pope chose the name Leo! It's a great name on its own and doesn't need to be short for Leonard.
true, it’s more of a “Noah”-class names: old, but extremely rare in England until very recently
I also found 4 King-Davids in 2024, 3 Princewills, and 3 Pols
Fair's fair, Eowyn could be passed off as a variant spelling of Owen/Owain/Owein/Eowen/Eouan/Euan/Ewen/Ewan/Eoghan/Eoghann/Ewein/Yuein/Ouein/Ywein (Welsh and Gaelic forms and anglicisations of Owen (originally Eugene)
Considering the, ahem, make-up of “Britain” these days, a massive increase in naming your kid Lucifer makes sense. It’s only in the past 10 years that the name has been used (out of nearly 1,000 in English history).
My 3 year is called Hero. However, it is short for Hieronymus. What little boy wouldn’t want to be called a hero?
Not after Much Ado About Nothing?
Distant thirdish reason, and more so after on Marlowe’s Hero and Leander.
St. Jerome (Hieronymus) and Hieronymus Bosch were the first two influences.
Isla is an interesting case because among Anglophone countries it’s top-tier popular in the UK, Australia, and New Zealand, but middling in Canada (12th) and the US (32nd). Meanwhile the rest of the top girls names have much more commonality across all English speaking countries.
Olivia, Amelia, Charlotte, Mia, Ava are a common core set.
“Ivy” is another name that is currently popular in the UK but less so outside it.
I have a few friends and relatives who work in schools and they have told me about some utterly bizarre names over the years.
The two that immediately come to mind are one unfortunate little boy named "Ebenezer" and another called "Kingjames" (like the Bible).
'Beren' is a popular Turkish name, I don't believe those babies were Tolkien-inspired