The most popular baby names in New South Wales, Australia, were announced recently.
According to the NSW Registry of Births, Deaths & Marriages, the winners were William for boys and Ruby for girls.
Here are NSW’s top 10 girl names and top 10 boy names of 2012:
| Baby Girl Names | Baby Boy Names |
|---|---|
| 1. Ruby (564 baby girls) 2. Charlotte (549) 2. Emily (546) 3. Olivia (540) 4. Chloe (530) 6. Amelia (522) 7. Mia (519) 8. Sophie (494) 9. Isabella (489) 10. Ava (464) | 1. William (639 baby boys) 2. Lucas (571) 3. Oliver (569) 4. Noah (568) 5. Jack (565) 6. Ethan (549) 7. Thomas (515) 8. Lachlan (515) 9. Joshua (514) 10. James (489) |
Why is Ruby so popular in Australia now? “BabyCenter Australia editor Danielle Townsend said…the rise of Ruby could be related to the baby of the same name from TV series Packed to the Rafters.”
My source article also included this quote, from the mother of a baby Mia:
“In one of the baby books, it said the name means ‘mother’ and we thought that was a really sweet meaning of the name,” she said.
What?! No.
The name Mia originated as a pet form of Maria in various languages (e.g., Swedish). Maria has no definitive meaning. There are lots of theories — “bitter,” “beloved,” “star of the sea,” etc. — but no consensus.
I’m guessing Mia’s mom got the definition of Mia mixed up with the Italian expression mamma mia, which means “my mother.”
Sources: William reigns in the name game while rare gem Ruby shines again, Popular Baby Names, 2010s (PDF)
The Mia thing reminds me of Stephen King’s ‘The Dark Tower’, where there’s a character (within a character in a very complex and difficult to explain storyline) called Mia and there it does in fact mean ‘mother’ in what is called High Speech.
It also reminds me of Old Norse Edda, meaning ‘great grandmother’ which I always thought was nice meaning, suggesting a long life with lots of children and family :)