The Art of Naming

Since Australia Day is being celebrated on January 26th, I thought we would take a moment to learn more about Australia's best baby-name blogger Anna from the blog "Waltzing More Than Matilda."  If you aren't Australian, don't worry, she explains exactly what the title of her blog really means. Anna is a wonderful blogger with great insight into names. She always has interesting and informative articles complete with opinion polls. If you enjoy voting for your favorite names, Anna provides plenty of opportunities for that on her blog!  She often shares names from local birth announcements and she also keeps up with celebrity baby news from Australian stars and footballers. Read below to learn more about Anna, her favorite names and her thoughts about the differences between names in Australia and names here in the US. What are your first and middle names? Anna Vivian. Do you like your name, or would you ever want to change it? When I was younger, m

Featured Australian Names: Rafferty  &   Freya For this month's World-Wide Wednesday, I thought I'd explore a land that is more similar to the US than the previously featured countries. I'm talking about "the land down under." In my research, I couldn't find any information about specific baby naming customs or traditions, but the continent definitely has some regulations in place.  Obviously, like most places, obscene or offensive names or words cannot be used. A name may not be exceedingly long to where it becomes impractical, nor can it contain special characters or punctuation. Any name that resembles an official rank or title like Lord, Lady, Princess, Queen, Father, Sir, Admiral or Doctor are not allowed, but one that slipped through the cracks is Duke. Click here  for a bit more information on other naming laws and regulations throughout Australia. Like the US and other English-speaking countries, Aussie children traditionally are given th