So, in case you missed several days of 24-hour rolling news coverage, David Cameron has named his baby daughter Florence Rose Endellion Cameron.  Endellion for the Cornish village where the couple were holidaying when 6lbs 1oz Flo popped out a month early on Tuesday, August 24. 

No one seems to know why Rose and the best guess for Florence so far is Mr Cameron's professed fondness for the band Florence and the Machine.
Being a Florriebunder myself I was asked what advice I could offer to our newest celebrity offspring.

 My relationship with my name has been stormy to say the least, with a 13 year old Floflo announcing to her bemused class mates that from now on they could call her Crystabel (that's how much I didn't want to be a Floradora).

Two main points had driven my teenage self to this point of nominal suicide. Firstly there were two stock responses to the name, either an "Ooh where's your lamp?", in reference to the ubiquitous ‘Lady with the Lamp' Florence Nightingale, a celebrated Victorian nurse, or a chorus of The Magic Roundabout's discordant circus theme tune, thanks to my name also being that of a psychedelic puppet.

At the time I summed up the general perception of Flossie as ‘Great Aunt Flo-ism'; Flo-jo hit the peak of its popularity in Victorian times and to most people Florencia was the name of a grandmother or other distant elderly relative. Unfortunately for me this was particularly well portrayed by Little Britain, which ran a skit featuring two cross-dressing gentile ‘ladies' Florence and Emily (Emily is my middle name, I kid you not). 

The other problem with my name was the total lack of cool nick-names, the truly worst example being Flofie Wofie which amused my friends so much they kept it up well beyond its sell-by-date.  Even Flo was an issue after giggling American kids informed me this usually referred to a woman's monthlies.

But dear Florence Cameron, don't despair. Your naming is proof that, as I have claimed for several years, Florence is coming back.

My first indication came when another Florence joined my school. I realised that not only had I secretly enjoyed being the only Florence, but perhaps there were more Florence's out there.  The advent of Facebook in university confirmed my suspicions; hundreds of thousands of Flos signed up to a group called "So your name is Florence too?" and shared their nickname woes.  

Government statistics backed us up when Florence crashed back into the charts in 2008 as the 94th most popular baby girl name in England and Wales, with 608 baby Flos christened that year. Last year the Telegraph ranked it 97th.

Finally our big moment came when Florence and the Machine, a band fronted by the charismatic Florence Welch, first dented the top 50 music charts in 2009.  At last, a famous Florence we could be proud of!

Now that the PM's got a Florence, I'll admit I was worried that everyone's going to want one.  But once that moment of spoilt only-child grief had passed, I can say I'm proud that I get to be one of the fore-runners of the Florence comeback, making Flo cool for future generations. Welcome aboard Flossie C, we need all the help we can get.

What of the great Florences of History! What of Florence of Arc? Queen Florence the first, the Virgin Queen? What of Florence of Arabia!