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Home / Bay of Plenty Times

Annemarie Quill: What odds on Oliver Oliver?

Bay of Plenty Times
13 Aug, 2016 08:59 PM4 mins to read

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Let the games begin!

Not those ones in Rio, but the guessing games over Jamie Oliver's baby name.

The latest addition to the chef's brood, a baby boy, arrived on Sunday night but is yet to be named. Oliver's wife, Jools, wrote on Instagram: "Little boy Oliver has arrived, we are so very happy, blessed, grateful and totally in love all over again, and so very proud of our two eldest daughters who cut the cord," she wrote. "Jamie was my hero. (No name yet!!!) XXXX."

Little boy Oliver has big shoes to fill on the name front.

The couple has a reputation for unique names - his siblings are Poppy Honey, 14, Daisy Boo, 12, Petal Blossom Rainbow, six and Buddy Bear Maurice, five.

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While Transformers actress Megan Fox and her 90210 hubby Brian Austin Green have just named their new bub Journey River Green, the heat is on the Oliver clan to make the big announcement.

Some were taking to Twitter to speculate on Marie-Claire, with foodie suggestions such as Fudgey Butter Slick or Paprika Glaze. Other suggestions included Hotdog Jumping Frog Albuquerque (I like it), or Doodle Shrub Kitten (a little strange but Doodle Shrub is growing on me).

Over on online parenting site Mumsnet, one of the favourites seemed to be that "Little boy Oliver" would be just that - Oliver. While one poster said: "Oliver Oliver? WTF?", another reminded us that the dad of footballers Gary and Phil Neville was called Neville Neville.

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And then there is American Idol winner Phillip Phillips. American television personality Rod Roddy.

Wrestler and model Kelly Kelly. Kris Kristofferson. And who could forget actor Marky Mark.

Other suggestions for the latest in the Oliver brood were Herbie, Sausage, the very on-trend Pikachu, Pepper, Rocket, Sage, and my personal favourite of the bunch - Sarnie.

Or how about Bacon Buttie, it has a ring to it.

It is a big responsibility to name your child. They might hate it.

And what if you regret your choice?

You can always change your mind like US mum Carri Kessler and her husband, Michael, who thought they were giving their daughter a name that would make her stand out from the crowd, but after months of having to tell people how to pronounce it, they changed their minds, NZME reported this week.

The couple had chosen the name Ottilie for their newborn baby girl.

But it didn't quite flow off the tongue.

"No one could remember it and no one could pronounce it," Carri said.

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"I was like, 'If you say it with a British accent, it sounds really good!'"

The new mum said the nurses at the hospital couldn't get the name right, and the baby's grandmother was still having trouble saying it, six weeks after the birth. Carri found herself cringing every time someone said her daughter's name.

"Introducing her made me sweat," she told Today. "And I thought, 'We're going to keep having to introduce her! This is going to be a problem forever.'"

So, after three months, the couple changed their daughter's name to Margot ... which still leaves room for error, rather like Moet, which could indeed be another possibility for Jamie Oliver.

Oliver Oliver would go down well in New Zealand though. Oliver has topped the list of most popular boys' names for the third straight year says the Department of Internal Affairs, and for the girls, it was, Olivia. Seems we like our olives.

The top five showed very traditional names, for the boys Oliver, Jack, William, James and Benjamin, whereas for the girls it was Olivia, Charlotte, Sophie, Harper and Emily. Harper shows the influence a celebrity baby can have. Maybe we can expect more Journeys in the list to come, or an increased trend to name your child the same name as the surname.

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