6 JANUARY 1950, Page 8

Susan, I read, was the most popular name for female

infants in 1949 as in 1948. This surprises me. There is nothing to be said against Susan, and nothing very much for it. But why choose it ? The name never seems to have interested the poets much. There is, I believe, a ditty about a black-eyed Susan, and it was a Susan who was interested (according to Wordsworth) in a thrush accus- tomed to sing at the corner of Wood Street when daylight appears. What is more relevant, few film-stars are called Susan, or if they are they conceal the fact. How does the flank get its vogue ?