A Rose by any other name is still a rose...
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Mary, Mary, quite contrary Lulu always wonders if the 'pretty maids' are actually little flowers - because lots of girl's names are flower names. Perhaps the pretty maids are named Posy, Poppy, Jasmin and Rose!
Girls (and boys) have been named after flowers for a long time, but it became really popular in England starting around 1904. Names like Ivy, Violet, Lily, Rose, Daisy, May, Iris and Olive were all in the top 100 in 1904 and 1914. The fashion for flower names gradually waned however, and by 1974, the top 100 names only had one flower name – Heather. Nowadays, flower names are becoming popular again. |
Since I was a little girl, not much older than Lulu, I've been interested in names and their meanings and history. My mother's mother was called Hannah and my father's mother was called Hannah, so is was both interesting inself and obvious I would be named for them. However, at the time I was born, Hannah was seen as rather old fashioned - a 'little old lady' name, so I was called Anna.
I like being called Anna (except for a while when as a teen all of my friends were inventing secret names by spelling their names backwards!) and I love that you find it in so many other languages.
Perhaps this prompted my interest? I love browsing through name books - though I am amazed that any child is named for any letter in the second half of the alphabet as there are always so many to read through! I have made an alphabetical list – though it's completely made up of flower names (click on the ABC below to go to that page).
However, my other lists are different in that they are lists of the same name in different languages from around the world - starting with the most common: Rose, Violet, Daisy, Jasmin, Lily and Hyacinth - click on the Rose below to read more.
I've also made lists of flower names for boys, names that are used for both boys and girls and names for other plants and trees.
I like being called Anna (except for a while when as a teen all of my friends were inventing secret names by spelling their names backwards!) and I love that you find it in so many other languages.
Perhaps this prompted my interest? I love browsing through name books - though I am amazed that any child is named for any letter in the second half of the alphabet as there are always so many to read through! I have made an alphabetical list – though it's completely made up of flower names (click on the ABC below to go to that page).
However, my other lists are different in that they are lists of the same name in different languages from around the world - starting with the most common: Rose, Violet, Daisy, Jasmin, Lily and Hyacinth - click on the Rose below to read more.
I've also made lists of flower names for boys, names that are used for both boys and girls and names for other plants and trees.
In the UK and US, we don't really call children Flower (though in other countries they do). Click on the photo above to read more...
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Click to see a loooong list of flower names in alphabetical order
Rose, Lily, Daisy and Violet have long been the most popular names - click on the Rose to read more about individual names.
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Researching names is a great jumping off point for other activities - when I ran an after-school club in Acton library, we chose secret names (after a LOT of research) and then decorated initial letters from them for our secret notebooks.