February may have been short, but it's sure packed a punch. From glorious sunshine to snow, and plenty of name-sightings in between.
Kip
Has anyone else been watching the Netflix-BBC thriller Collateral recently? I was drawn in by the amazing cast: Carey Mulligan, Nicola Walker, John Simm, Billie Piper... but definitely stayed for the drama, and the names!
The main character, played by Carey Mulligan, is Detective Inspector Kip Glaspie. Kit, Pip and Tib have been unisex since the Middle Ages, but I've only ever seen Kip as a diminutive of Christopher (or a surname-firstname like Kipling). Anna Otto points out other non-Christopher-Kips, but they, too, are all male. There has been nothing on the show to suggest the name is a nickname for something, and I can't quite fathom what would work. Katherine? Christina? Either way, it's a great spunky fit for the character.
Other character names include Suki, Sandrine and Elfie (John Simm's on-screen daughter, played by his actual daughter, Molly).
Luella
Another new creation from the BBC is lighthearted comedy-drama detective series Shakespeare and Hathaway. It's set in picturesque Stratford-upon-Avon, and the title character's surnames are a nod to the town's most famous son, William Shakespeare and his wife Anne Hathaway.
Frank Hathaway teams up with Lu Shakespeare after she hires him for a case. Lu's full name (as she says in the first episode) is Luella May Shakespeare. Luella has always been rare in Britain [never having more than 3 births in any given year from 1838 to 2000], but has recently been rising in England and Wales, making its first debut in the top 1000 at #975 in 2016 with 37 births.
Enver
I've been binge-watching Agent Carter this month and actor Enver Gjokaj's name immediately stood out. His full name (according to the interwebs) is Enver Leif Gjokaj. He's American with an Albanian father and American mother; an older brother named Bekim and an identical twin brother named Demir Dustin.
Enver itself is form of the Arabic Anwar meaning "luminous, enlightened, radiant."
Sahti
I love watching the animals of Chester Zoo on Secret Life of the Zoo. This month they featured three sister komodo dragons named Mia, Lara and Sahti. And their keeper? Isolde! What a well named bunch!
Sahti struck me the most. Aside from being the name of a Finnish beer, it could either be related to the Buddist sati "mindfulness" or from a Sanskrit word meaning "true, good."*
Brais
I've been browsing the top names of Galicia this month, and there are so many fascinating finds to be had! The have a fondness for the letter x in names (which they pronounce as a 'sh') and vowels.
Brais (#18 in 2016)caught my eye as an attractive why-hasn't-this-travelled? name. It's the Galician form of Blaise pronounced like 'rice' in English with a B in front. Perhaps it's the spelling that hampers it, but oh, how fascinating are Breixo (BRAY-shoo), Xoán, Xián and Xurxo?
Uxía
For the girls part, Galicia has equally intriguing finds such as Maruxa (mar-OO-sha), Sabela, Xiana and Xoana.
My favourite, at #17 is Uxía (pronounced oo-SHEE-a), the Galician form of Eugenia.
Maeva
French couple David Ginola and model Maeva Denat have welcomed a daughter this month. Now word on the name yet, but it's Maeva's that struck me. It's not uncommon in France. It first entered the top 100 in 1988 in France and peaked at #19 in 2001.
To my eyes, it looked like a variant of the Irish Maeve, but its actually a Tahitian name meaning "welcome."
I can easily see its appeal in the English-speaking world.
