Totally useless facts!

[jaja]

It´s a bit difficult, when you have hundreds of students who all believe that you´ll recognize them. When I was young, and very much in love, I met my husband-to-be in new trousers, and I was really troubled: Was this my love, or could it be one of his brothers?

[Linda]

jaja ... just taken a break from my cleaning and found that I, too, must suffer from prosopagnosia because I am often confronted by ex students on the street or in the shops and I just can't remember their names and can't even remember which course they took with me.  They tend to blur into one mass!! 

[jaja]

But do you remember that you should know them? I don´t.

[biggerbirdbrain]

There's also the problem that lots of people do look and dress alike ... esp. in small towns where there are so many cousins!

[Linda]

Yes, I remember that I've seen them somewhere before (usually) but it is embarrassing not to be able to remember any details ... esp. their names!!

threeb ... our town isn't that small!! 

[biggerbirdbrain]

You also are aware that everyone has a double somewhere, which certainly might complicate things ... I've been told several times that they have seen people who look like me. That's scary.

How big is your town?

Our whole county is less than 50K, but San Antonio (two counties away) is growing by leaps and bounds. According to Wikipedia, it's the second-largest city in the state of Texas and the seventh-largest in the United States of America. Located in the northern part of South Texas, the city is a cultural gateway into the American Southwest. San Antonio is the seat of Bexar County with a population just under 1.3 million as of the 2006 U.S. Census estimate, as well as the 4th fastest growing large city in the nation from 2000-2006 [1]. Its metropolitan area has a population of over 1.9 million and is the 29th-largest metropolitan area in the U.S.

[Linda]

Some more useless info.  Top 20 most popular boys' and girls' names for 2007 according to The Daily Telegraph.  Last year's places in brackets.  I wonder how these compare to US and Australian names?!

1 William (1)

2 Oliver (11)

3 Edward (6)

4 Thomas (2)

5 George (4)

6 Alexander (5)

7= Harry (9)

7= Henry (3)

9 James (7)

10 Charles (9)

11 Frederick (13)

12= Archie (12)

12= Benjamin (14)

14 Samuel (15)

15 Jack (

16 Oscar (18)

17 Charlie (25)

18 Joshua (New Entry)

19 Sebastian (29)

20= Felix (21)

20= Luke (25)



1 Emily (7)

2 Charlotte (4)

3 Olivia (3)

4 Lucy (12)

5 Isabella (2)

6 Matilda (19)

7 Alice (1)

8= Amelia (19)

8= Grace (9)

8= Sophie (4)

11 Ella (19)

12= Daisy (

12= Eleanor (6)

12= Florence (10)

15 Beatrice (14)

16= Elizabeth (12)

16= Jemima (19)

16= Phoebe (10)

16= Poppy (14)

20= Flora (New Entry)

20= Imogen (26)

20= Sophia (16)

My son's names are both in the Top 20 .... but where is Linda?! 

[Linda]

Don't know why Jack and Daisy have smileys next to their names!

[biggerbirdbrain]

In the US, listed for 2006, here are the most popular ones:

Girl Names

1   Emma
2   Madison
3   Ava
4   Emily
5   Isabella
6   Kaitlyn
7   Sophia
8   Olivia
9   Abigail
10   Hailey
11   Hannah
12   Sarah
13   Madeline
14   Lily
15   Ella
16   Alyssa
17   Riley
18   Chloe
19   Lauren
20   Grace


Boy Names
1   Aiden
2   Jacob
3   Ethan
4   Ryan
5   Matthew
6   Jack
7   Noah
8   Nicholas
9   Joshua
10   Logan
11   Andrew
12   Michael
13   Caden
14   Dylan
15   Tyler
16   Connor
17   Jackson
18   Caleb
19   Jayden
20   Alexander

[jaja]

Even more useless: Swedish top names 2006:
Emma
Maja
Agnes
Julia
Alva
Linnea
Wilma
Ida
Alice
Elin

Lucas
Oscar
William
Elias
Filip
Hugo
Viktor
Isak
Alexander
Emil

[birdy]

Interesting how the language has diverged not only in vocabulary and spelling and slang, but even in names.  There are a couple of boys' names that I've never heard used here - Oliver and Oscar (though I had a cat - named by a Brit - in the 60s named Oscar), except for the bologna/hotdog manufacturer Oscar Mayer.

My impression is that a lot of the girls' names would be regarded as hopelessly old-fashioned (Olivia, Matilda, Florence {my grandmother's name}, Jemima {also with racial overtones in this country because of "Aunt Jemima"}) but that might be changing - who would have thought that Chloe would ever make the top 20?  I've never heard Poppy used as a girl's name.

I think that girls' names are a little more subject to fashion than boys' - maybe because men are more conservative and they have more influence on naming their sons?

[Binkie]

Here are the top baby names from Queensland in 2007. Apparently they vary from state to state!

The top ten boys names (to November 30, 2007):
1: Jack (503 born)
2: Lachlan (418)
3: Riley (380)
4: Cooper (372)
5: William (358)
6: Joshua (343)
7: Thomas (325)
8: Samuel (278)
9: Ethan (273)
10: Ryan (268)


The top ten girls names (to November 30, 2007):
1: Ella (419 born)
2: Charlotte (340)
3: Mia (321)
4: Emily (312)
5: Isabella (307)
6: Chloe (301)
7: Sophie (254)
8: Ava (253)
9: Lily (239)
10: Olivia (232)

[Linda]

birdy ... do bear in mind that this list was taken from The Daily Telegraph, which is an up-market newspaper, and therefore the trend for naming children after pop/soap stars is unlikely to be reflected here!

Oliver is my son's middle name ... seems to be coming back in popularity now, though it has always been in and around the top 20.

The girls' names are lovely, I think, although I don't know of any children around here called Matilda, Beatrice or Florence ... guess we're not up-market enough!!  Poppy is one of my favourites and was on my shortlist if I had a daughter, as was Imogen and Amelia, not to mention, Cordelia.  When I was a teenager I always said my daughter, if I had one, would be called Layla!!  Shows how names go in and out of popularity!  When will Agatha be making a return, I wonder! 

[biggerbirdbrain]

The Paomnnehal Pweor Of The Hmuan Mnid:

Aoccdrnig to a rscheearch as Cmabrigde Uinervtisy,
it deosn't mttaer in waht oredr the ltteers in a wrod are,
the olny iprmoatnt tihng is taht the frist and lsat ltteer be in the rghit pclae.
The rset can be a taotl mses and you can sitll raed it wouthit porbelm.
Tihs is bcuseae the huamn mnid deos not raed ervey lteter by istlef, but the wrod as a wlohe.

[Linda]

I think I have posted this before, threeb!  If not, I should have done because I used it it one of my presentations called 'Watch Your Language' ... available at all good bookshops (not really)!!