What is the oldest name still in use?

Here's a question for you:  what is the oldest name still used by people today?

I had this fun conversation with Aven and Amalia on twitter yesterday, and we weren't able to come to a decisive answer.  Aven cleverly suggested Eve.  Amalia thought maybe Krishna.  My idea was Inana, who appears in the Epic of Gilgamesh.

Some rules:

It has to be a name either written down or provably used by a real person of ancient times.

To be counted as still in use it has to be a name chosen by parents or in some sense natural (i.e. not one deliberately adopted in later life).

The floor is open for suggestions!


A new member of the team: say hi to Hannah

The lovely smiling face in this photo is Hannah the Editorial Assistant.  She's a new recruit to Team Keith at St Martin's Press, which is probably why she's smiling. 


Hannah's holding the very first jacket to come from the printer for my next book.  This is the first time I've seen the entire jacket too.

I have a feeling this is Hannah's first foray into the wild and wacky world of publishing.  I wish her many long years of success, and hope she manages to keep her sanity more or less intact.  Welcome Hannah!