Unique among familiar names

Region stays on trend

Some trends come and go, and some stay as they are, and the same can be said for baby names.

Through the Geelong Advertiser’s search for the region’s cutest baby, some names stood out as popular.

Among nominations, there were four babies named Amelia and four with variations of Oliver, Ollie and Olivah.

There were also three named Beau, three named Florence, three called River and three Willows.

Nationally in 2023, Amelia was the second most common name for girls, with 1374, trailing only Charlotte with 1394, while Willow featured at No.10 with 993.

Oliver was the most common boys’ name with 2276.

Highton mother Jess Bourman said she had always liked the name she picked for her first baby, Amelia, who is 11 months old.

“Pre-meeting and pre-baby Amelia was on both mine and my partner’s list of names,” Ms Bourman said.

“Her middle name is Billie, after my brother William, who was called Billy when he was little. Her nickname is Millie.”

Ms Bourman said Amelia was at an exciting age and was really growing into her personality.

“We picked Amelia as a feminine, gentle name but she’s definitely a strong girl who knows what she wants,” she said.

Beau is Geelong mother Claire McGinniss’ third child.

All the names she has chosen have a meaning. Ms McGinniss said the family’s background was French and Mauritian, with her eldest daughter having a French name and her first son having a biblical name.

“I was very pregnant and had no name when Beau came to me out of the blue,” she said.

“It means handsome or beautiful in French.

“His grandmother calls him Beau Beau, but my nickname for him is Little Frog.”

Ms McGinniss said her daughter Yza picked Beau’s middle name, George, after her favourite TV show, Curious George.

She said it was special to hear her son Zion, who is non-verbal and partially deaf, say Beau’s name, too.

Some names in the nominations were more unique, including Bambi, Novi, Huxley and Nakoa.

Bannockburn mother Meaghan Steffen said she had never heard her baby’s name before choosing it.

“Nakoa was one we never heard before,” Ms Steffen said.

“My partner’s mum is from the Cook Islands and we weren’t going to go with a Polynesian name but it popped up and we really liked it.

“He gets Koa for short – we loved Koa first but my partner liked a name you could shorten, so when we found Nakoa, we saw it could be shortened to Koa.”

Ms Steffen said Nakoa’s middle names were Georg Francis after his grandfathers.

“He’s a really happy boy and I think the name does suit him,” she said.