It's not only the names themselves that intrigue me, but the way in which the pronunciation of some of these trendy names can be so very different from their spelling - a perilous trap for unwary teachers to fall into. Here are a couple from my current registers: Jourdain (a boy) and prononouced "Jordan" [I suppose the Frenchification is to try and make him more sophisticated, but the parents don't carry it through with the pronunciation]. The perfectly good name "Aaron" now seems to becoming pronounced "Arran" (as in sweater), rather than conventionally as "Air-on". I am now wise to this, having been the target of several indignant "Arrans" when I said their name wrongly.

Has anyone else come across a Devon ? I had assumed that the young lad I was teaching last year was named as the result of parental passion in Paignton......until someone put me right about the footballer (I think it was a footballer) called Devon. Now - why is HE called Devon ?

New up-and-coming names, it would appear from my registers, are: Tabitha and Archie. I have two of each.

The other name trend which bugs me is the idea of double-barrelled surnames being created from the husband's surname and wife's maiden name. The offspring started to be born in the 80s and 90s. What's going to happen, though, soon, is that all those Emma Ruggles-Johnsons will marry the Joshua Burgess-Wetherstones and the nation's telphone directories will have to double in thickness if they continue with a quadruple-barrelled trend. Totally nuts !

- jeanie