Papaya! Yes, really....

[Mummalish]

Some glamour model type woman just named her baby Papaya. Yes.

[oikopolis]

I know. It's that Alicia Douvall. Saw that this morning and rolled my eyes hard.

[SilentBoob]

Actually I quite like fruit names.

But I didn't get all the outrage when the Paltrows named their daughter Apple either.

[marshmallowpies]

It's always been called a pawpaw in my house!

Apple is a bit weird to me as it's a brand name too...when they gave her that name it was a little bit before iPods etc had really taken off, but now when I see her name I think 'iPod Martin' or 'MacBook Martin'.

[JestersHat]

No worse than quite a few names :)

[LaTristesse]

Isn't that the trashy 'brand' at Matalan?!

[evamummy]

Papaya isn't that different to Clementine, Apple or Peaches, is it?

[thrillahkillah]

Clementine is a traditional girls' name, it's the feminine of Clement. I assume the fruit was named for someone.

Apple and Peaches are no different from Papaya, no. All three are dreadful beyond words.

[MamaLazarou]

I quite like it. I love unusual names.

[Asturimama]

Oh dear, in some Latin American Spanish speaking countries this means fanjo....

[marshmallowpies]

There is definitely a connection between the word Clement and oranges...was racking my brains trying to remember what it was, then realised: St Clements = Oranges and Lemons!

So perhaps the fruit Clementine was named with the nursery rhyme in mind...would check Wikipedia if it wasn't offline today!

[thrillahkillah]

I don't know how I know this... i seriously have read too many books full of useless things... but if I remember correctly that rhyme is about the different markets/business districts of London.

The St Clement's church in the rhyme, if I remember it right, was near the docks where fruit was delivered. Hence "Oranges and lemons say the bells of St Clement's".

The Old Bailey bell was associated with debtor's courts..."when will you pay me"... etc.

Here I've found a link that's not Wikipedia: www.rhymes.org.uk/oranges_and_lemons.htm

Sorry, OT, but interesting I suppose

[nooka]

Clementine is the french female form of Clement (ine/a being a common ending to make male name feminine) so nothing to do with the fruit.

It's very hard finding stuff out without Wiki - shows what a great resource it is really. I did find a link that suggested the name might have come about like this: Some attribute their discovery to father Clement, a monk in Algeria, who tending his mandarin garden in the orphanage of Misserghim, found a natural mutation. He nurtured the fruit tree and subsequently called it "clementino". This was in about 1900.

In any case it seems fairly clear that the name came before the fruit.

Papaya is an awful name. Totally up there with Peaches in my book, in fact worse because it's not only is it a bit cutsie but also pretentious (no common or garden fruit for my child). Makes me think of Wayne and Waynetta - 'it's exotic'

[SubordinateClaws]

Could be Poppaea?