Friday, 10 April 2009

Valid girls' names

Everything must start somewhere, and this seems as good as anywhere.

I've prepared this list, no doubt incomplete, of girls' names which are also valid words (i.e. uncapitalised and suitable for use in Countdown or your word game of choice.) I've split the list into two halves: those you might be surprised to find, such as Charlotte; and those you won't, such as Fanny.

Opinions on what counts as a "name" might vary, and it's likely most of the dictionary has been used as a name by someone at some time. So I've tried to take a central position, somewhat permissive but not too permissive, thus ensuring that no one is happy. Opinion might also vary on what counts as surprising; words like felicity and myrtle aren't that unusual, but it's possible that they may be unfamiliar or you may be slightly nervous about offering them; that's the standard I've tried to apply. Again my intuition may disagree with yours, but no correspondence will be entered into.

Most of these are nouns, of course, with plurals formed in the obvious way unless otherwise noted.

Finally, if you think of any omissions, please do let us know. I will update the list and give credit accordingly.

The interesting ones:-
  • CHARLOTTE
  • GEORGETTE
  • MADELEINE

  • ANGELICA
  • CLEMENCY
  • FELICITY
  • ROSALINE [adj. only; no plural]
  • VERONICA
  • VICTORIA

  • ABIGAIL
  • ALANNAH
  • CELESTE
  • CHARLIE
  • COLLEEN
  • PANDORA
  • QUEENIE
  • TIFFANY [no plural]

  • ALIYAH [no plural]
  • ALEXIA [no plural]
  • ALANNA
  • BONNIE [no plural]
  • BRYONY
  • CARMEN [plural of CARMAN]
  • CASSIA
  • CRISTA [plural is CRISTAE only]
  • DAPHNE
  • DEXTER
  • JENNET [?]
  • JESSIE
  • JOANNA
  • MAGGIE
  • MOLLIE
  • MYRTLE
  • PHOEBE
  • SHEILA
  • SHELLY [adj. only, no inflections]
  • SIENNA [no plural]
  • SIERRA
  • VERITY [has plural VERITIES, surprisingly]

  • ARIEL
  • BELLE
  • BOBBY
  • DEBBY [no plural]
  • DIANA
  • DONNA
  • ERICA
  • ETHYL [mass noun, no plural]
  • FLORA
  • GABBY [adj. only; GABBIER and GABBIEST but no plural]
  • GEMMA [plural is GEMMAE only]
  • JENNY
  • JULIA
  • KYLIE
  • LEONE
  • MAVIS
  • MOLLY
  • NELLY
  • POLLY
  • SALLY [verb and noun; SALLIES, SALLIED, SALLYING]
  • TERRY
  • VENUS

  • ALBA
  • ANNA
  • CATE
  • GENA [plural is GENAE only]
  • JANE
  • JESS [verb and noun; JESSES, JESSED, JESSING]
  • JILL
  • KALA
  • KARA
  • LULU
  • NESS
  • RUTH [mass noun; no plural]

  • JO [plural is JOES only]


The obvious ones:-
  • LAVENDER
  • MARIGOLD
  • PATIENCE [no plural]
  • PRIMROSE
  • PRUDENCE
  • ROSEMARY

  • CHARITY
  • CRYSTAL
  • HEATHER
  • HONESTY [no plural]
  • JASMINE

  • BRANDY
  • MARINA
  • MELODY
  • SUMMER
  • VIOLET

  • ABBEY
  • AMBER
  • BERYL
  • CANDY
  • CAROL
  • CHINA
  • CISSY
  • DAISY
  • DOLLY
  • FAITH
  • FANNY
  • GRACE
  • HAZEL
  • HOLLY
  • HONEY
  • KITTY
  • LOLLY
  • MISTY
  • NANCY
  • OLIVE
  • PATTY
  • PEARL
  • PENNY
  • POPPY
  • ROBIN
  • SANDY [adj. only; SANDIER and SANDIEST. Also SANDYISH.]

  • CAT
  • COCO
  • DAWN
  • ELSE [no plural]
  • FERN
  • HOPE
  • IRIS [verb and noun; IRISES, IRISED, IRISING]
  • JADE
  • JEAN
  • LILY
  • ROSE
  • RUBY

  • DOT
  • EVE
  • FAY
  • GAY
  • IVY
  • JOY
  • MAY
  • PAT
  • PEG
  • SUE

Sunday, 5 April 2009

Welcome

Welcome to Lexonerd Sgraffiti, a new blog, written primarily by Sid Myers and Charlie Reams. And possibly directed by George Lucas.

Why does this blog exist? Insofar+W as any blog exists, this one exists because we wanted somewhere to collect our many strange discoveries in the lexicographical world; because we're fascinated with the strange and beautiful juxtaposition of words as both semantic objects and sterile strings of letters; and because being a lexonerd is awesome and we want to talk about it. Whether anyone wants to listen remains to be seen.

The main focus of this blog is the Oxford Dictionary of English; that's the fairly substantial but one-volume edition of the Oxford range which is widely available in shops. We picked the ODE (currently on the Second Edition Revised, which is actually the third edition) because it's the dictionary used on the TV programme Countdown, and everyone likes Countdown. Whenever we talk about a word being "valid" or "in", that's specifically with reference to the ODE2r; it's not any kind of perscriptive linguistics. So don't get all bleeding-heart liberal on us.

So what are we going to post here? We're still deciding. But hopefully it'll be interesting, mind-expanding (for us if not you), and even a bit educational. And it should definitely be good for your Countdown skills. Read on with all the interest you can muster, and by all means send us your feedback on what you like and even what you don't. We might even read it.