Naming Your Newborn Baby
The Gift of a Name
We here at G.H.Hurt & Son understand the importance of naming your newborn baby, the name that you give to your newborn baby will be with them forever and can help shape the very person that they will grow into. A name is the first gift that you give your child and we recognise how significant this decision is to parents.
Picking a name for your child is one of the first and most important decisions you can make as a parent. There are so many options to choose from nowadays, you may pick a name of a close friend or relative that holds meaning to you, you may pick a name that has been consistent in your family to keep a proud rich heritage going strong, or you may even name your child after your favourite character from a tv show, as there are now quite a few Daenerys’ running around since Game of Thrones came on the air.
A Century of Popular Baby Names
How Baby Names have Changed in 100 Years
When it comes to naming your newly born little miracle, you might not even know where to start, with so many beautiful names to choose from, it can be difficult to pick the perfect name for your little one. That’s why we here at G.H.Hurt & son want to try and help you out as much as possible.
To help you with a bit of inspiration to name your new baby, you might be looking for a more classical-sounding name, after all, older names have a great sense of history and nostalgia to them. However, you might be looking for a more modern name, one that is true to the new generation that your aby will belong to. So we here thought we would help you out by having a look and seeing how popular baby names have changed in the past one hundred years.
The results are in and with such a stunning selection of names for both boys and girls, from royal baby names to the religious to the literary, it is easy to understand why these beautiful names are so popular throughout the years. It's fair to say a lot has changed over the past century, including baby names, however, some names never go out of fashion.
Meanings of Baby Names
The Origins and Meanings behind Popular Baby Names
Understanding heritage is an important key to keeping traditions alive, at G.H.Hurt & Son we have always tried to keep our heritage close to us as we believe our past let us hold on to our humble beginnings. So, we thought, to try and help you pick a name it might be a benefit to know the story behind some of the most popular names, where they have come from and what they have meant throughout the years.
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Boys Names
Oliver
- As an old Norse name, Oliver, which is derived from Alfher a name associated with a very caring person as its meaning was ‘Kind One’. The spelling came closer to what we now know as the French normans began to associate it with the Latin ‘Oliva’ or olive tree, however the meaning stayed true as for the normans, the name meant ‘Peace’
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Harry
- Coming from the medieval English form of Henry the name has strong connotations to leadership as in both old German and old English it meant ‘Army Ruler’. Most of the English King Henrys were referred to in their time as Harry – most notably Henry V in Shakespeare's famous rallying cry: "God for Harry, England and St George!"
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George
- A name passed down from the ancient Greeks, originally, Georgios. The name was for those who worked the lands as it is derived from the Greek word gorgeous meaning "farmer, earth-worker” even with its humble beginnings the name George has a long Royal heritage since it was first used in 1280 by George I of Bulgaria, and more recently Prince George of Cambridge.
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Noah
- Famously in the bible, Noah was picked by God as the righteous man to be the builder of the Ark that allowed him, his family, and animals of each species to survive the Great Flood. The name itself meaning comfort as well as having associations with the idea of wandering means that Noah is a popular baby name with both religious and non-religious parents.
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Jack
- Actually coming from the popular name John, but growing into a name in its own right, Jack first started to pop up during the Middle Ages as it became a slang word meaning "man", this is where the term “Jack of all trades” originates. The name became to be frequently used in fairy tales and nursery rhymes, such as 'Jack and the Beanstalk', 'Little Jack Horner', and 'Jack Sprat'
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Girls Names
Olivia
- Having a rich literary history, the name Olivia was first used by William Shakespeare as a character in his comedy 'Twelfth Night'. It is thought that Shakespeare had based it on Oliver or Oliva, which derives from the Latin of olive tree which was a symbol of Athena as well as a token of peace and fertility.
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Amelia
- The name Amelia gives the implication that the bearer is industrious and hardworking as the name has German roots from the word ‘Amal’ meaning ‘work’. Amelia first became a British royal name when the daughters of Kings George II and III were bestowed the name in the 16th century.
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Isla
- Hailing from Scotland, Isla is said to come from the Celtic word for island, as well as having two rivers in Scotland with the same name, Isla is certainly a good strong Scottish name.
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Ava
- The origins of Ava are a bit uncertain and Ava is a much more ancient name than its modern-feeling sleekness would suggest. Some people believe it to be a variation of Eve which in Hebrew means ‘to live’ or ‘to breath’. Another possibility is that it is the Anglicised form of the Celtic name Aoife, which means 'radiant'.
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Emily
- Seen as a thoroughly British name, Emily actually gets its roots from a Latin origin of ‘Aemulus’ meaning "rival". With various literary namesakes, like Emily Dickinson and Emily Brontë, it is seen as a feminine, classic, simple, pretty, and strong name.
However you choose to name your newborn, we here at G.H.Hurt & Son wish you all the best for the future and we hope that we have given you some inspiration and helped you along the way to making this important decision.