A name is a name is a name...

I couldn’t have named my daughter Willow. I also couldn’t have named my son Oscar. Husband, who is just about perfect other than his penchant for eschewing funky or unusual names, would have spat the dummy far too far.

I did manage to manipulate him into Ella and Riley. He simply walked out of the room when I mentioned Willow for our daughter. Sigh.

Ella was almost Eva or Eliza. Something about the E names. In fact, when I was pregnant with Riley, we thought he was a girl and Eva was the name of choice.

Ava

I still remember reeling in shock when we saw that little pinky on the ultrasound screen. Then the tossing up of names began… ‘Riley’ was much harder to negotiate than ‘Ella’ had been. He was almost a William – a name I love but which I felt was far too popular at the time. I loved Oscar, but Husband had the dummy poised for spitting on that one.

I won’t say we ‘settled’ on the names we chose, but we did come to an 'agreement' (actually, Ella was completely non-negotiable in my mind, and in truth, even if Husband had allowed Willow, I would have gone for Ella anyway).

Willem

But I must say, I LOVE unusual names. I love ALL names but especially unusual ones.

When I wrote my book – You Name It – in 1995 (under the name Tania Winter Buck), I was in bliss learning more about the naming process and about the beautiful names from around the world.

Coco

The book (Hodder Headline, Australia - now out of print) was jam-packed with names, but most specifically those I felt were unusual. I broke the names into themes – night/day names, ocean names, Shakespearean names, jewel and crystal names, even wine regions from around the world, for goodness sake. It was fun and I still peruse the book from time to time, in search of the unusual.

Some of my favourite unusuals? Persephone, Siren, Elon, Rialto, Teague, Ghislaine, Harrow.

Cal

When the very talented Tina, who I recently featured in my Women Who Do What They Love section, revealed her children’s names to me – Peyton and Maverick, I became re-enamoured with names once again. Names have such power, such resonance and personality. Look at how Jack came back. Flash back 100 years and you’re looking at an elderly farmer, nowadays you’re looking at a super action hero.

Do your children have unusual names?

The most popular names for England and Wales for 2008…

Boys
Jack
Oliver
Harry

Girls
Olivia
Ruby
Grace

And for the US?

Boys
Jacob
Michael
Joshua

Girls
Emily
Isabella
Emma

What about Australia?

Boys
Jack
Joshua
Lachlan

Girls
Ella*
Emma
Mia

*Of course, I was horrified when Annette Bening named her daughter Ella in April 2000, just 3 months before my daughter was born. Here I was secure in the knowledge that Ella was not yet that popular (for me, our daughter was named after singer Ella Fitzgerald)… then Annette had to go and do this to me. Shortly after, Kelly Preston secured my Too Popular Name fate and named her wee girl Ella Blue. Ach. Now it’s an Ella overload – but hey – no wonder. It is the world’s most beautiful girls’ name, of course.