Perfect autumn day out: Waterlow Park and Highgate Cemetery

I know it sounds a bit morbid but cemeteries are excellent places to get inspiration for baby names. I remember seeing the below grave in Highgate Cemetery about ten years ago, with the name Evelyn elegantly inscribed in gold and thinking how pretty it sounded. When my husband suggested we name our daughter this, I thought back to it and it swayed me. Today, in the glorious autumn sunshine we decided to take a trip to Highgate, starting in the beautiful Waterlow Park, a 'garden for the gardenless' given to he public by Sir Sidney Waterlow in 1889. The park has plenty of running space for toddlers, a small playground, ponds, elegant formal gardens and stunning views of the city. Evie was in her element and had a fleeting romance with a 2-year-old French boy called Matisse (it was love at first sight). Around the corner in Highgate Cemetery, having taken in the graves of Karl Marx, artist Patrick Caulfield and Jeremy Beadle (!), I listed a few of the more unusual names that may (or may not) inspire future generations (see below). All in all, a beautiful day.

Girls
Floretta
Lillian
Lilla
Mercy
Tryphena
Ada
Elenora
Minnie
Mabel
Cora
Lena

Boys
Harold
Earl
Clarence
Ernest
Herbert
Jesse
Eugene
Leopold

There were lots of Elizas, Mary Anns and Florences while for men it seemed John, William and Albert's were around in abundance in Victorian times too...

Tim and Evie in Waterlow Park

The grave of Evelyn Muriel Dray MBE

Husband and babe walking through the dappled sunlight in Waterlow Park

Rusty-hued autumnal leaves