It might well have seemed like a good idea at the time but did any of the babies called Diamond Jubilee back in 1897 really thank their parents for it?
A quick search of the 1911 census turns up more than one person whose age was always easy to guess thanks to their name.
Diamond Jubilee Reckless, born in 1898 in Rotherham in Yorkshire, perhaps got the worst deal given the surname that came after the celebration special. And given the fact that DJ Reckless was a boy.
Diamond was already established as a girl's name by the time Master Reckless, coal miner's son, was saddled with it. But he wasn't the only male to mark the royal celebration. Diamond Jubilee Edwards, a cabman's son from Chelsea and Diamond Jubilee Galsworthy who father ran a pub in Devon were also christened as Queen Victoria marked sixty years on the throne.
In fact, ten babies were given the name Diamond Jubilee between the end of 1896 and the middle of 1898. Of those that are recorded on the 1911 census, three are boys and two are girls. Diamond Jubilee Brown of Kings Norton in Worcestershire could perhaps blame her piano maker father's artistic temperament for her unusual name. The other girl with the name, Diamond Jubilee Roper of Portsmouth, also had instrumental links with a professor of music for a father. And DJ Roper might have known she'd get a royal name with a sister called Victoria already in the household.
Whether there are as many Diamond Jubilees to mark Elizabeth II's 60 years as queen remains to be seen. But no doubt now, as then, more parents than children will like the right royal name.
Thursday, 10 May 2012
Wednesday, 9 May 2012
Amethyst
Precious stones have often inspired parents looking for a first name for babies - and let's face it, mostly little girls. While you might refer to a man as a diamond geezer, there's not much chance of anyone saddling a son with a name like Diamond. Even in Jubilee year.
We'll have to wait til this time next year to see if the celebrations of the Queen's sixty years on the throne inspire a wave of baby Diamonds. But there's no doubt that jewels have come back into fashion when naming daughters.
Think of the number of Rubys - it was the second most popular name for baby girls in the UK in 2009 and although not as popular in recent years, it was still in the top ten list.
Amber is skirting around the top fifty. And with Jack Osborne calling his new daughter, Pearl, there's a chance that little jewel of a name will start to crop up more often.
Back in the early part of the 20th century, when precious stone names were at their most popular, Rubys still dominated with Beryl the other high rankingn jewel on the list. Pearl was still a fairly regular choice while those who wanted to stand out wer opting for Diamond, Emerald and even Sapphire on a fairly frequent basis.
Amethyst was a different matter. The purple jewel, birthstone for February, has never been a popular first name. The ancient Greeks believed it protected anyone who wore it from the effects of strong drink but parents have rarely been intoxicated by it. In 1911, there are just five women and girls on the census with the name. Three of them are under 16 - and two of them have a sister called Ruby, showing their parents perhaps developing a theme. And all of them were living in the southern part of the UK.
There's more on the five Amethysts on a separate page - and later this month, a look at Diamonds for the Diamond Jubilee.
We'll have to wait til this time next year to see if the celebrations of the Queen's sixty years on the throne inspire a wave of baby Diamonds. But there's no doubt that jewels have come back into fashion when naming daughters.
Think of the number of Rubys - it was the second most popular name for baby girls in the UK in 2009 and although not as popular in recent years, it was still in the top ten list.
Amber is skirting around the top fifty. And with Jack Osborne calling his new daughter, Pearl, there's a chance that little jewel of a name will start to crop up more often.
Back in the early part of the 20th century, when precious stone names were at their most popular, Rubys still dominated with Beryl the other high rankingn jewel on the list. Pearl was still a fairly regular choice while those who wanted to stand out wer opting for Diamond, Emerald and even Sapphire on a fairly frequent basis.
Amethyst was a different matter. The purple jewel, birthstone for February, has never been a popular first name. The ancient Greeks believed it protected anyone who wore it from the effects of strong drink but parents have rarely been intoxicated by it. In 1911, there are just five women and girls on the census with the name. Three of them are under 16 - and two of them have a sister called Ruby, showing their parents perhaps developing a theme. And all of them were living in the southern part of the UK.
There's more on the five Amethysts on a separate page - and later this month, a look at Diamonds for the Diamond Jubilee.
Tuesday, 8 May 2012
What's in a first name?
What's in a first name? Quite a lot, when you stop to think about it. In fact, if you did think about it too long you might never end up deciding on what to use.
Would that which we call a rose really smell as sweet if it was called something else? Or put it another way, if you went through life with a totally different name would you still be the same person.
We get no choice in what we're called. We might have been given a name as a tribute to someone or found ourselves labelled with a whim that sounded right at the time. Maybe it's something to make sure we stand out from the crowd - or possibly something to make sure we blend in.
A few letters, strung together, written on a birth certificate in a handful of seconds. And yet that one word follows us around our entire lives. It is part of that first impression that others make of us and which we never quite shake off. It comes to represent us to those that know us. Just the mention of our name conjures up memories, images, thoughts, emotions. All in the time it takes to say a word that we had no choice in picking.
And every name comes packed with meaning. That personal meaning attached by those that know us. The meaning of the name, too, set down in books and passed on through generations. And the meaning it just has - the type of person it conjures up in the mind of the person hearing it.
There is perhaps no word more special to us in our lives than our first name. And I want to trace the stories of as many as I can. Here I hope to post an evolving dictionary of first names - their meanings, their usage, their passage through time.
What's in a first name? All of us, maybe.
Would that which we call a rose really smell as sweet if it was called something else? Or put it another way, if you went through life with a totally different name would you still be the same person.
We get no choice in what we're called. We might have been given a name as a tribute to someone or found ourselves labelled with a whim that sounded right at the time. Maybe it's something to make sure we stand out from the crowd - or possibly something to make sure we blend in.
A few letters, strung together, written on a birth certificate in a handful of seconds. And yet that one word follows us around our entire lives. It is part of that first impression that others make of us and which we never quite shake off. It comes to represent us to those that know us. Just the mention of our name conjures up memories, images, thoughts, emotions. All in the time it takes to say a word that we had no choice in picking.
And every name comes packed with meaning. That personal meaning attached by those that know us. The meaning of the name, too, set down in books and passed on through generations. And the meaning it just has - the type of person it conjures up in the mind of the person hearing it.
There is perhaps no word more special to us in our lives than our first name. And I want to trace the stories of as many as I can. Here I hope to post an evolving dictionary of first names - their meanings, their usage, their passage through time.
What's in a first name? All of us, maybe.
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