Happy Melbourne Cup!

Now before you get any ideas, I am not going to suggest you call your child 'Shocking', who was the winning horse in this year's Melbourne Cup! There are, however, other names associated with the Melbourne Cup that may inspire you, or help you to decide on the name. Unfortunately, only three horse names in this year's Cup can be transposed into human names. These are:

Leica (after horse Leica Ding)
Harris (after horse Harris Tweed) - perhaps an alternative for Harrison
Daffodil - an unusual floral-inspired name.

Perhaps your naming favourites lay with some of the horse trainers or jockeys? This year, they included:

Bart (or Bartholemew) Cummings: the famous horse trainer, who assisted Viewed, Roman Emperor and Allez Wonder in the lead-up to this year's Cup.
Corey Brown: jockey on Shocking. A winning name!
David Hayes: trainer of Changing of the Guard.
Herman Brown: trainer of Mourilyan.
Jake Stephens: trainer of Alcopop.
Mark Kavanagh: trainer of Shocking. You're on a winner with the name Mark!

And did you know that Makybe Diva, the winning horse of a record three Melbourne Cups (2003, 2004 and 2005), was actually named after five women? These co-workers, who worked for the horse's owner Tony Santic at his Port Lincoln tuna farm, worked on a name using the first two letters of their first names. These women were called:

Maureen
Kylie
Belinda
Dianne
Vanessa

So.. MA + KY + BE + DI + VA = MAKYBE DIVA. Cool? I think so! Perhaps these names may also influence your naming ideas. After all, this horse is the most successful of all time...

Giddyup!

Love,
The Name Dame