We all recall the brouhaha following the birth of Gwyneth Paltrow’s daughter Apple.  But at least one fruit has been a respectable name for girls for generations.  It is a tale that begins in ancient Rome, travels to a palace in Belgium, to the wilds of the American West and eventually to the gardens of an orphanage in Algeria.  And yes, from there to a supermarket produce aisle near you.

ApMtn is indebted to Elisabeth for suggesting today’s Name of the Day: Clementine.

At the dawn of Christianity, Clement was the name taken by several early leaders of the church, including Pope St. Clement I.  It may be derived from a family name – St. Clement of Alexandria, for example, was born Titus Flavius Clemens.  Several variants of this surname remain common throughout the West.

What’s certain is that Clement is from the Latin for merciful and gentle.  It’s an appealing meaning, especially for parents looking for alternatives to Grace and Hope.  And while the first use of a feminine version of Clement is lost to history, it’s likely that it was well-established centuries before the next stop in our story.

Fast-forward hundreds of years to a palace in Belgium.  Princess Clementine of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha was born in 1872.  If that unwieldy place name sounds familiar, it’s probably because her cousin, Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, had married Queen Victoria back in 1840.  Clementine went on to marry Prince Victor Napoleon in 1910, and if not for some trifling matters of state, might have become Empress of France.

The romance between the princess and the pretender to the throne was widely reported, almost certainly adding to the popularity of the name in the US.

But the princess alone wasn’t responsible for the name’s use.  In 1880, the first year for which Social Security data are available, Clementine was the 376th most popular name for girls born in the US – not Mary, but far more popular than Ava or Abigail.

In the 1880s, in the American West, Percy Montrose penned the lyrics to Oh My Darling, Clementine, a mournful ballad about a lovely girl.  Odds are you know the refrain; perhaps you’ve forgotten that most of the verses are about the hapless Clementine’s death by drowning.  It’s been a staple in the Boy Scout songbook ever since.

Early in the 20th century clementines began to grow on trees.  As it turns out, the link between the personal name and the citrus fruit is purely coincidental.  In 1902, Father Clement Rodier discovered the hybrid growing the gardens of his orphanage in Algeria, then a French colony.  He dubbed the new fruit a clementine, and a few years later they made their way to the US.

There’s one more Clementine to mention in our whirlwind tour: Clementine Churchill, wife of Winston Churchill, known for her leadership in the Red Cross and YWCA during World War II and as a steadfast and loyal partner to her husband.

It’s far more history than we expected to discover attached to this sweet, slightly old-fashioned name.

The name remains well-used in Europe, but in the US, Clementine has not cracked the Top 1000 since 1953.

All of this leads us to conclude that Clementine is ripe for a revival – feminine but not frilly, worn by princesses and historical figures and boasting a ready-made lullaby, this is a name with depth, character and charm.