A large number of publications are available devoted to the topic of “baby names”. Choosing a name for a new child is clearly a decision of some importance, and many families appear to need help with the process.
In some cultures, it seems important to come up with original and distinctive names. At a recent international athletics event, I noted the following male given names of competitors from English-speaking countries: Roshan, Zharnel, Nethaneel, Erriyon, Kyree, Jereem, Rai, Cassiel. There were women called Shanieka, Devynne, Ackelia, Twaneesha, Ellesse, Kerenza, Monae, Quanesha.
In other cultures, the reverse is true, and it is important for names to adhere to established traditions. For example, in Greece and elsewhere, it is extremely usual for children to be named after their grandparents.
One well-known tradition is “West African day naming”.
The Akan people of Ghana, Ivory Coast, and Togo frequently name their children after the day of the week when they were born. Old Etonian Kwasi Kwarteng, infamous as the second-shortest-serving holder of the office of chancellor of the exchequer, under prime minister Liz Truss, comes from a Ghanaian family and was named Kwasi because he was born on a Sunday.
Some countries have rules about the names which can be given to children. Norway has laws regulating personal names, in order to protect children from harmful parental decisions.
This naming law prohibits first names which are basically surnames. (If that law applied here, children could not be named Harrison or Madison.) The Norwegians also prohibit given names which could cause distress, embarrassment, or bullying. Names cannot be words that are considered to be swear words, or are official titles like King and Prince.
Names in countries with no strong traditions can go in and out of fashion quite rapidly. When I first went to school in the late 1940s, five out of the 20-odd boys in my class were called David. The popularity of this name was probably due to its being used in his immediate family by relatives of the future King Edward VIII, whose full name was Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David and who was later known as the Duke of Windsor.
Last year, the most popular girls’ names given to newborns in this country were Amelia, Olivia, Lily, Ivy, Eliana and Elsie. There was no one in my school who had any of those names, but I did know older women called Lily, Ivy and Elsie who were about the same age as my parents, who were born in 1916 and 1918.
There is also one particular naming practice which certainly no longer occurs in this country. John Paston of the famous Norfolk family associated with the Paston Letters (see TNW #464) had two sons, both also called John. The boys were known in the family as “the elder” and “the younger”, and to historians as John II and John III, John I being the father.
This all seems rather strange to us, but it probably happened because the family wanted to honour specific different Johns from preceding generations, including perhaps their cousin Sir John Fastolf, who was a renowned warrior, and who provided the model for Shakespeare’s Falstaff. In the 15th century, it was common to name children after their godparents, and if both godfathers had the same name, then this duplication could occur.
Suggested Reading
Should you say CONtroversy or conTROversy? And does it matter?
Tradition
Until about 1450, tradition could mean “treason”. The word comes from two Latin roots, trans “across” and dare “to give”; so it can refer to the handing down of customs from one generation to another. But it could also refer to the handing over of information to persons who were not entitled to receive it, and hence signified “betrayal”.
