Fun with Belgian given names

[Fiji]

History sneeks up on you from all sides, doesn't it ... streetnames, holidays (on the 11th of november "why don't we have to work today ... wow, there were TWO world wars???" ... I've actually witnessed this), monuments and ... given names.

Given Names?
Sure, most given names look like this (given name per year of birth)

This is the graph for a commonly appearing Flemish name 'Koen'
A name gains popularity, has a peak and then disappears again.

This also happens often (for the name 'Jan'), a name having several peaks.


So, the thing to do, is look for oddities.
This, fe, is for the name 'Britt'. Britt is not a traditional Flemish name, yet, we see a massive surge in popularity in the late 90s, early 2000s.

Reason, in 1998 a new show premiered staring a popular singer/actress in the role of 'Britt'.
By 2000, the show had attained cult status. Hence the peak in popularity.

Next, I tried sports(wo)men ... I expected to see peaks for Kim and Justine (these are Belgian names, after all) but they weren't there.
I tried several footballers, but none of them produced a peak, except maybe 'Eli', though it's dubious

There's a bit of a peak in 88-89, when Eli Ohana, as first Israeli ever, won 2 european cups with his club KV Mechelen.
But, Like I said, this could be a random peak. After all, the largest Jewish community in Belgium is in Antwerp. And those who are interrested in footy tend to be fans of FC Antwerp.

Still, staying with the theme of sportsmen.
Eddy Merckx seems to have caused a bit of a (re)surge in the 70s:


Having astablished a patern ... Enough with the sportsmen, let's have a look at historical events.
First of all, the most obvious one ... ADOLF

BINGO! A massive surge in 1933, and the name remains popular until ... who would have thought ... 1942.

Now, will we see the opposite for 'Winston' a thoroughly un-Belgian name

BINGO-ish ... we never see douzens of Winstons being born, but there is a surge-ette starting in 1944, when Belgium was liberated.

How about periferal evidence of WWII?
the name John:

We have an odd surge in 44-45-46.
Liberation-Babies perhaps?

And for my final graph ... let's skip back a WW

We suddenly have 300 Alberts being born in 1916 ... 1916!!! when just about all of Belgium was occupied. An act of defiance against the Hun?

I've also checked more 'exotic' names, but Lenin, Stalin, Che and Fidel didn't produce a peak.
Neither Neil, nor Lance Armstrong had any effect.
Leon (Degrelle, leader of the Walloon fascists) has a noticable dip in the worst of the war years (41-42), but recovers afterwards.

Anyone know any other names I can check?

[NCW]

You could try Edith. Edith Cavell was a British nurse who was executed in 1915 for helping some 200 allied soldiers escape from German occupied Belgium. Edith Piaf was named after her, and I wouldn't be surprised if there weren't others.

Cheers,
Nigel.

[Max Sinister]

Very interesting. I should check out whether this exists for other countries too.

[Volksgrenadier2006]

I didnt know Koen was Flemmish!?

Now try Chefke for a change.

Also I got a question for you and all the other Belgium people.
Why have you guys always got a handkerchief on you?

When I first heard this claim that all Belgium folks had handkerchiefs on them I thought it was to bizarre to be real, but ever since I heard the claim I have checked it with many of them I met and it really is true.

[Fiji]

Edith has a fairly normal distribution, though the peak (from 1940 to 1958) seems oddly high (some 20 to 30% higher then one would expect, based on the pre 1940 years)

Also, I'm begining to ge the feeling that these graphs give the given names of LIVING people per birthyear. Which doesn't remove trends but diminishes them over time.

Yes, Koen is a Flemish name
And, yes, I know it's somewhat popular in the Netherlands too, so you could call it a Dutch name, just as easily.

Jefke (with a J, not a CH) never has more then a few births.
Jef has had an average of 80 births since the early 80s ... with is an oddly long peak.

as for the handkerchief, I wasn't aware people outside of Belgium DIDN'T have a handkerchief on them. I know paper tissues are more sanitary, but still, you'd want SOMETHING (other then your sleeve) to blow your nose on when you have a sudden runny nose, no?

[NCW]

Originally Posted by Fiji

Edith has a fairly normal distribution, though the peak (from 1940 to 1958) seems oddly high (some 20 to 30% higher then one would expect, based on the pre 1940 years)

That's interesting. It does correspond roughly with the career of Edith Piaf (roughly 1940 to the early sixties).

Cheers,
Nigel.

[Hendryk]

Any statistics on Hendryk? (I'm aware that the more common spelling is with an i rather than a y, so I'd like to see whether this exact spelling registers statistically).

[Fiji]

zero Hendryks, I'm afraid.
Hendrik was popular from the mid 30s to the mid 60s and has been on a slow decline since. no noteworthy highs or lows ... which is hardly surprising, since there hasn't been a single famous/notorious Hendrik in the last 100 years. (although, my uncle Hendrik is QUITE notorious, he lacks the fame to make an impact )

[Volksgrenadier2006]

Originally Posted by Fiji

Jefke (with a J, not a CH) never has more then a few births.
Jef has had an average of 80 births since the early 80s ... with is an oddly long peak.

Ah then it is just a nickname thing or something.

as for the handkerchief, I wasn't aware people outside of Belgium DIDN'T have a handkerchief on them. I know paper tissues are more sanitary, but still, you'd want SOMETHING (other then your sleeve) to blow your nose on when you have a sudden runny nose, no?

I knew it
I don't know about this in any country other then the Netherlands or Belgium, but over here almost no one has handkerchiefs on them, you can check it

But then again, you people have always been more polite and have better habits then us.

[DrakonFin]

Originally Posted by Max Sinister

I should check out whether this exists for other countries too.

Here is a similar service from Finland at an official state site. Unfortunately, it lacks the nice graphics and the names are listed only by decade, not by year. Well, should be at least useful for people wanting to add authentic-sounding Finnish characters to their timelines...

http://192.49.222.187/Nimipalvelu/default.asp?L=3

[Hendryk]

Originally Posted by Fiji

there hasn't been a single famous/notorious Hendrik in the last 100 years.

Well, there was a minor Dutch painter named Hendryk Jan Wessleng in the first half of the 20th century, but yeah, that's about it.

[Codae]

Originally Posted by Fiji

as for the handkerchief, I wasn't aware people outside of Belgium DIDN'T have a handkerchief on them. I know paper tissues are more sanitary, but still, you'd want SOMETHING (other then your sleeve) to blow your nose on when you have a sudden runny nose, no?

Where I live, most places have a box of Kleenex within a convenient distance.

[Fiji]

Originally Posted by Volksgrenadier2006

Ah then it is just a nickname thing or something.

Jefke is a diminutive of Jef.
Dutch has a number of diminutives:
-je, -pje, -kje, -tje
hand => handje
boom => boompje
koning => koninkje
kleuter => kleutertje

North Dutch has -ie as a diminutive
boom => boompie

And Flemish has -eke and -ke as diminutives

Apparently, the Flemish form sounds 'cute' do Dutchmen

[Onyx]

How about Leopold? There was two kings of that name in Belgium

[wilcoxchar]

Cool. Is there anything like this for the US or individual states?

[Fiji]

Leopold has a fairly normal distribution, just a dip in 43-44.
Oddly enough, the "issue of the King", which brought Belgium as close to full scale revolution as it ever got, has no effect on the popularity of the name.
And, speaking of oddities, Leopold (a thouroughly old-fashioned name) seems te be enjoying a bit of a revival, with some 20 to 30 births per year.

I also checked both spellings of the 5th king's name Boudewijn and Baudouin.
Both have a huge peak in 1952 (when he ascended to the throne), after which it stays popular for a decade or so and then disappears. There is a slight revival for Baudouin in the 90s which is missing for Boudewijn.