Gem Names

Basically today a gem name catapulted it's way into my attention. Ruby. Why? Today is the day that 2006 top names of the UK are published, and Ruby has charmed it's way into the top 5 - #4 to be exact. I doubt that this is a start of a great 'gem name' push into the UK (the only other gem name there is Amber, and that has stayed pretty stagnant at no. 40 for the last couple of years), but it is interesting.

In terms of meanings, gem stones are pretty descriptive - ruby means red, amber means amber, opal means opal (but is derived from jewel), diamond (surprise, surprise) means diamond.

Ruby isn't the only 'red' name in the top 100 - Scarlett is up at #46, only a small jump after last year's huge leap, whilst Sienna has decreased slightly in popular (#69-70). Adam, which means 'to be red' has not changed at all from last year.

So why Ruby? To quote a recent new parent of a Ruby (Tobey Maguire - he of Spiderman fame) - they 'treasure her like a jewel'. Some of the popularity of Ruby may be due to (or may simply be the follower of the fashion) the character Ruby Allen on popular soap 'Eastenders' - though she arrived in 2005, when Ruby was already on the rise. Perhaps it is because Ruby fills that mysterious and elusive category of fitting both a young girl (with the '-ee' ending) and a grown woman (strong and red).

12 years ago, the UK scene was different. The top gem name was Jade - in 1994 it was number 9. Jade completely fell off the top 100 last year. There are no 'red' names in this list - green is the major cololur with Jade, Chloe, Ashleigh and Holly. Gemma is also there.

Gemstones are also in the same category of month names (think May, June, April - then you have Julie/Julian/Julius/Juliet, Augustus/a, Octavia and Non/va). In that each month is assigned a stone - Garnet in January, Amethyst = Feb, Aquamarine (I can't see this becoming a name) = March, Diamond=April, Emerald (and therefore Esmeralda) = May, Alexandrite (Alexandra) or Pearl = June, July = Ruby, August = Peridot, Sept = Sapphire, Oct=Opal, Nov = Topaz and Dec = Tanzanite, Zircon or Turquoise.

If we US top 1000 these month names then the 'popular' month stones are: Diamond, Emerald (but not since 2000), Esmeralda, Ruby, Perry (for Peridot) and Sapphire.