What’s In a Name – Australia

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As former British colonies, Australia and New Zealand largely have the same naming practices as Britain, except that some first names are more common in these countries than in Britain. Consider the most popular names in Australia in 2003:

Most of these names are similarly popular in Britain. The exceptions are Liam, Mitchell nad Lachlan for boys and Shakira and Hayley for girls.

The main difference between names in Britain and the USA on the one hand and those in Australia and New Zealand on the other hand is that the indigenous peoples of the two latter countries have their own distinct naming practices. The Aboriginals of Australia use first names which are very derivative of nature, while the Maoris of New Zealand have a mixture of equivalents to English names and names from natural features.

Links:

Aboriginal names click here

Maori names click here

In Kiribati (previously known as the Gilbert Islands), the official language is English (following its previous status as a UK dependency), but there is the indigenous language of Kiribati spoken by many of the 100,000 population. Names tend to be quite traditional English names but, in many cases, there is a Kiribati equivalent. For instance, for boys Iaone, Tiaon, and Ioane are all cognates of John and for girls Maria, Meri and Mere are all cognates of Mary.

Link: Kiribati names click here

In the tiny nation of Pitcairn Island (population 47), the community is drawn entirely from just four families: the Christian and Warren clans are descended from the mutineers on the “HMS Bounty” in 1790, while the Youngs and the Browns trace themselves back to sailors washed up on the island in the 19th century.