Western countries share a name pool that includes about 20 000 names, variants and diminutives. This total fluctuates due to cultural shifts and socio-economic powers that ensure that names from the Eastern, African and Arabian cultures are continuously added. At the same time, some names become obsolete and others change so much that they become unrecognisable from the original name. Most genealogists would agree that spelling only gained importance during the twentieth century. Previously a name would have as many different spellings as there were pronunciations – due to the low literacy level. Names can also change because of changing preferences.

John was the most popular boy’s name in England until the 1800’s, but James replaced it in 1994. Where children were previously named after saints and Bible characters, they are now named after film and sport stars. There is a tendency towards the combining of the names of grandparents in order to form more modern and socially acceptable names. These names are not included in the book since there are numerous combinations and the meaning can only be derived when the original names are known. The etymology of names include potential virtues (Grace); place names (Ackerley); nations (Franz); day of the week (Dominic); compounds (Mary-Ann); months (June); plants (Rose); animals (Tabitha); Biblical figures (Joseph); colour (Ruphus); titles (Augusta); occupations (Fletcher); places (Hilton); surnames (Forester), reference to gods (Venus); declaration of God (Michael); reference to saints (Patrick) and literary figures (Imogen). The origin of a name can also be more complex since one name can be known in several forms in different countries, for example Dawid or Dawie among Afrikaans speakers and Dave or David among English speakers. Dodavehu is used in Hebrew and Daryl in French. The name Noël is the French form of the Latin name, Natalis. The Russian forms for the name include Natalie, Nataschia and Nastayenka, while the Portuguese form is Natal. There can also be several names that share the same meaning for example Ruphus, Roy, Edom, Esau, Scarlet and Ross that all mean ‘red’. Some of these names also have other meanings, such as Roy which can also mean ‘noble’ or ‘kingly’.

The tradition of taking the surname of a mother or grandparent contributed to the fact that many surnames are now also names. There are 45 000 surnames in England with a history. This means that the name pool can enlarge significantly in the future. South Africa doesn’t have an official name list but in some countries such as Brazil, regulations ensure that a child is protected from receiving a name that can harm him or her later in life. The South African name pool is derived mainly from Hebrew (Bible), Greek, Latin, Anglo- Saxon, Germanic and Celtic names. Bible names are still very popular. Due to various cultural influences and the diversity of ethnic groups in South Africa, there are also a number of Arabic, Sanskrit and Persian names. The cultures from the Far East have not yet had a major influence on the name pool. The influence is presently still limited to those ethnic societies in South Africa that come from countries such as Japan, China and Taiwan. The African names have been westernised to a large extent and even though there is still a large number that are uniquely African, very few of them have been included in this book since these names call for a study on its own.