It’s Aboriginal for beautiful, says mum a girl called Corio

Andrew Mathieson
NAME calling over the years between Corio and Lara has taken a new twist.
One family disturbed at the thought Lara had stolen the march as a popular female name has moved its own Corio back to Corio.
Simone Hynes named her first child Corio as a tribute to the place where she grew up.
Ms Hynes had been living in South Australia for most of her 18-year-old daughter’s life until she relocated back to Geelong with Corio last year.
“When I was over there I heard a girl called Lara,” Ms Hynes said.
“It tripped me out a bit but I was also so sick and tired of old-fashioned names, so from the time I was 13 I thought I liked the name of Corio as a girl’s name.
“Then I found out it was an Aboriginal word for beautiful.”
Ms Hynes’ propensity for weird and wonderful names also extends to son Trynt.
Other daughter Haley was named with unorthodox spelling.
“That was by mistake, though,” Ms Hynes pointed out.
“She was meant to be a boy and we had Sharndell picked out.”
But it was Corio’s name that suffered the inevitable mispronunciation for years in a state that has never heard of the suburb, the bay or the federal seat.
Cori-oh was the typical mistake that led to some of her new school teachers at first thinking she was a boy.
Back home in Geelong, Ms Hynes’ eldest daughter only has to contend with the obvious jibe amid a few snickers about the maligned suburb.
“My family know I’m a bit out there,” Ms Hynes laughed.
“They thought I’d pick a weird name but maybe not something like Corio.”
The name’s drawbacks have included Corio’s inability to find a carved-wood sign with her name to hang over her bedroom door.
Then there are the confused responses after she supplies her name, such as people asking: “What’s your name, not your suburb?”
But Corio – the girl, not the suburb – takes it all in her stride.
“I knew it was unique and just different,” Corio said.
“I always thought it was pretty cool, actually.”
“At least I never get it mixed up.”