Australia may have crazy animals that eat you and a trail of strange big things in small country towns, but it seems that when it comes to naming our little ones we play it pretty safe.
The top 100 girls’ names in Australia in 2016 reveal nothing unusual. The top 5 were pretty – and pretty standard: Charlotte, Olivia, Amelia, Ava and Mia. Even at number 50 there is the tried and true Sarah and at 100 the much loved Maggie.
And the boys’ names were no weirder. The top 5 in Australia in 2016 were Oliver, William, Jack, Noah and Thomas. Nothing the slightest bit out there. Even at number 50 there’s Hugo and at 100 its Lewis. While there was a rise in popularity of trendy names such as Theodore, Beau and Carter, even these are far from crazy. And while the next generation will likely thank us in the future for not mucking with their monikers, it seems that to find crazy baby names we will need to look elsewhere.
Thankfully for our entertainment, Americans it seems are more risqué when it comes to naming their newborns.
Their top 100 in 2016 for girls’ names starts as expected with Olivia, Amelia, Charlotte, Ava and Isla. But by 23 we find Luna, at 42 Ophelia, at 59 Elodie and by 91 there is Anouk. At least by number 100 we are back to a nice normal Naomi.
The top 3 boys names were Ezra, Asher and Atticus. No sign of those anywhere on the top 100 in Australia. At number 46 we find Soren and at 50 there is Tobias. Getting closer to 100 things get right royal with George, Edward and Louis.
And of course every parent has the right to name their precious little poppet whatever is right for them. But you have to wonder if anyone thought through the school yard implications of these, my top 6 picks for unusual names in 2016:
- Beberly. No lisp needed, this name has the cuteness of a little brother not quite able to say his big sister Beverly’s name properly. Except that when big sister Beberly grows up,
- she’s still Beberly. Or perhaps it’s some sort of strange nod to a certain Justin?
- Paisley. Parsley anyone? And if being almost called a herb isn’t bad enough, its meaning isn’t much better – its Scottish origins come from the word for cemetery.
- Elizabreth. Yes you read it correctly. No it’s not spelt incorrectly. Although its owner is likely to spend her lifetime spelling it – Eliza-breth, spelt b-R-e-t-h.
And then there’s those names that are nearly normal, except for the spelling.
- Aliviyah. An interesting crack at Olivia, pronounced Olivia but with a tricky A at the start and a yah on the end.
- Mhavrych. Which is a version of Maverick that seems to be missing most of its vowels.
And lucky last? - Danger. I have just one question for his adventurous parents: why?
