There’s something interesting about the current top 50 baby names for girls in Australia. They’re not actually distinctively Australian. At all. All the names on the list are also popular in the US (eg Harper, Mila, Aria) or the UK (eg Isla, Evie, Willow).
Back in the 1970s, things were different. The Aussie girls’ top 50 was more Aussie. There were plenty of names on it that were used in other countries, like Michelle and Sarah and Lisa. But one of the most popular names was Kylie. In fact, Kylie was the most popular name for girls born in NSW in 1973. Meanwhile, old favourite Narelle was still getting a lot of use, sitting just outside the top 30 in Victoria. Another name in the top 100 was Peta, a female form of Peter that was big here but not in the US or the UK.
What’s special about Kylie and Narelle is that both of them are genuinely Australian names. Kylie is believed to be a Noongar word from WA meaning “boomerang”. Narelle is also listed in names books as being an “Aboriginal” name, possibly originating from somewhere in NSW. Both were pretty much unheard-of in the UK and the US when they were huge here.
But being so Aussie was probably Kylie and Narelle’s downfall. Late 1970s TV comedy The Naked Vicar Show, with its catchphrase, “You’re not wrong, Narelle!” has been blamed for killing Narelle off. As for Kylie, it died in Australia in the late 1980s, around the time that Kylie Mole (“so excellent”) was mocking bogan schoolgirls on The Comedy Company. Even though Kylie Minogue was reaching superstar status – doing the Locomotion and marrying Jason Donovan in the TV wedding of the decade on Neighbours – the name was done here.
Minogue went on to spread Kylie around the world, giving Kris Jenner another K-name to choose from.
Australia in 2017 is very different from Australia in the 1970s. Our tastes in a lot of things are more global.
While parents who called their daughters Kylie and Narelle almost definitely knew they were choosing Australian names and liked that, parents today don’t seem to be quite as keen to wave the Aussie flag when they’re naming their offspring.
Yep, Matilda’s made a comeback here, but it’s made one in the UK too, because it’s got that old-fashioned charm.
When it comes to place names as first names, the overseas ones are a lot more appealing than the local ones. Chelsea, Indiana, Brooklyn and Dakota top any choices that could be a nod to Australian places, like Tully (Australia’s rainiest town) or Adelaide. (Victoria does well, but it does well in other countries too because it’s always been a first name.)
Ivy, Willow and Violet are huge, but parents are less willing to pick the more Australian-sounding plant names, like Acacia (the scientific name for wattle) and Jarrah.
As for Aussie celebrities, there are a few baby girls called Asher, as in Keddie, but not enough to crack the top 100. There are even less tiny Deltas.
Of course, there’s no reason for parents to give their kids names that sound Australian. Parents just want to choose great names for their kids, no matter what the origin.
We’ll probably never see a top 50 as Aussie as 1973 again, when Kylie ruled and Narelle was not too far behind. So let’s thank the parents of all those Kylies and Narelles, for giving us that proud moment in Australian naming history.
LISTEN: We need to talk about the interesting names of Beyonce and Jay Z’s twins...
Embed: