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Left to right: Oceania, Chikara, mum Claire, Kirstan, Astra, who is holding Diesel, Ayrton and Kay.
So, what's in a name? (Well, quite a lot actually ...)
Alex Bell16/ 7/2008
AYRTON’S the driver, Astra’s the car and Diesel’s the engine – but not in the Armitt family.
Claire and Ian Armitt of Brook Street, Macclesfield, have seven children whose names are: Oceania, Chikara, Astra, Diesel, Ayrton, Kirstan and Kay – an eccentric collection of monikers.
The couple, who drew inspiration from some unique sources in the labelling of their offspring, say they looked for the unusual, the different, and names they simply liked...with some interesting results.
Ian, 39, a coach driver for Bostock, was in charge of naming the latest addition – ten-month-old Diesel.
Claire, 35, explained: "Ian wanted something rugged, a real lad’s name, but when I was nine weeks pregnant with Diesel, Kirstan suffered a stroke and was taken ill.
"Kenco was an option for a name at that time, but ultimately Kirstan decided on Diesel when she was in hospital.
"We wanted to give her a bit of brightness and happiness at a difficult time."
Originally Chikara, two, was to be named Brian after the children’s granddad.
But Chikara was a girl and the final choice came from a Honda car advert, meaning ‘great dreams’ in Japanese.
Ayrton, five, who will move into year one at Puss Bank Primary School in September, was named by a pharmacy employee at Tesco, on Hibel Road in Macclesfield.
Claire said: "We already had Astra, Kirstan and Kay, so I wanted to balance it out with a name beginning with ‘A’.
"Cheryl in the pharmacy used to think I was barking mad because every time I would see her I was always expecting. We ran through names that began with ‘A’ and came up with Ayrton, after the Formula One racing driver Ayrton Senna."
Oceania, six, was the name of an orang-utan in an animal documentary Claire was watching on TV.
She said: "I fell in love with the name after seeing it on TV.
"When Oceania was born she had red hair, so I just felt the two went together." And seven-year-old Kay, a pupil with her sister at Puss Bank Primary School, has a name that Claire just happened to like.
But the double-barrel middle name to form the full title, Kay Nova-Lola Armitt, was a mutual agreement between the married couple.
"I wanted Nova as it had the meaning of "star" and Ian wanted Lola so we just combined the two," Claire said.
Both parents agreed instantly on Kirstan, 12, while Astra, 13, was a name Claire saw in a book, which also means ‘star’.
Astra and Kirstan, both at Tytherington High School, and Chikara, were born at Macclesfield Hospital, while Kay, Oceania, Ayrton and Diesel were born at the Armitt residence. And this unusual naming system might just run in the family – as Claire’s mother’s name is Honora.
If you have children with unique names, and know the meanings behind them, please call the newsdesk on 01625 424445, or email us at alex.bell@menwn.co.uk .
Most recent 2 of 9 user comments
7/08/2008 at 18:56
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11/08/2008 at 12:44