Siiimbaaa!

People aren't called Ophelia anymore. There were no Huckleberrys or Ebeneezers in my school. Names are just a bit common and dull now, really. But I would say that, I'm used to them.

Overhearing a conversation about what a friend should call her unborn child, I thought about influences from popular media and the rise in popularity of more unique names like Apple. According to the Office of National Statistics (ONS), Harry was most likely to be the name of your new male pet human in 2011 whilst Amelia was the wide-eyed angel of innocence leading the female race. It's logical that household names will be the first choice because they'll be in your head already. Harry known for, depending on your lifestyle, being a Prince, a boy wizard or being that one with the flippy hair from One Direction. Amelia: the Doctor's companion or the young and feisty comeback queen from Strictly Come X Factor On Ice. Popular culture inevitably dictates the names we're going to shout when something is broken or dinner's ready.

I won't be surprised if Bella (already at #69) and Edward (quietly confident at #40) top the charts when 2012's statistics are revealed. Perhaps Kate or Pippa will make their comeback post-Royal Wedding. Olympic winners are likely to also feature strongly, maybe in an effort to tempt fate and create our future athletes. In a decade or so when I'm (maybe) carting my child to and from school, I will likely find it normal to hear stories about how Katniss has the best pencil case and how Ron kept copying maths answers.

Apparently fans of vowel endings, most parents name their children after faux adjectives (Daisy, Ruby, Alfie) and the traditional long name that can be shortened to make a nickname is long-gone. This opens up the possibilities for fantastic nicknames. No more do we stop at simply being lazy with each others names - Alexander becoming Alex, Thomas becoming Tom. Now we can focus on beautiful nicknames that bring us closer together and relate to something relevant to individuality. You know what I'm talking about. Like in How I Met Your Mother when the barista mishears Barney's name as Swarley which earns him this nickname for several weeks. Or when I was young, my Mother refused to allow Vicky as an alternative so my best friend gave me a different nickname every few days. My favourite, and entirely unexplained even at the time, was Little House On The Prairie On Wheels. No? Okay, perhaps overactive childish imaginations won't produce something like that again in a few decades. We'll have to wait and see.