For obvious reasons I ave been contemplating names for children over the last few weeks and have found myself drawn to a few that have a common theme, namely virtues.
I knew a girl at university called Prudence (and maybe one at school as well, but I am not sure if her name was actually Jenny Prue instead...) and there are several others that I like the sound of such as Patience, Chastity, Faith, Hope, Constance and Honor. There is a long list of them here
That got me thinking about 2 things related to this:
Firstly why is it that almost all of these names are considered to be girls names?
Secondly should anyone chose one of these names, should it be a virtue that you admire in others, maybe consider yourself to be lacking or should it simply be chosen based on the how the name sounds?I think it is rather hard to separate the name from the meaning when it is as closely linked as this unlike Peter meaning stone - different word and abstract meaning.
If we give up on the aspirational names maybe we could stay closer to home and go with something like Impatience or Resilience.
In the end it will come down to 2 criteria, does MK like it? and how does it sound in Danish?
These are female names because these qualities are not deemed to be suitable for a manly man, let alone a viking. Maybe in Denmark there are not expressions like "Hope springs eternal" - she'll be a gymnast; "Patience on a monument" - afraid of heights; "Virtue is it's own reward " - a devotee of kharma; "Charity begins at home" etc.
ReplyDeleteWilliam is a good name!
ReplyDeleteSarah, Anne, Steven, April, May, June, Julia, August, Olive, Rose, Alistair, Peter, Hans, Neils, Arne, Jacob, Jules, George, Jorje.
It occurred to me that your maternal grandad was Thomas Beavon, known as Beavon and your paternal grandad was Douglas William known as William or Bill. There must have been a trend in the years between 1910 and 1920 to use the middle name - but only for men. Nora Olive was Nora - not sure what Dorothy's other name was.
WRM
Dorothy Rose as I recall, isn't that why Ben was going to be Rose if he'd been a girl
ReplyDeleteHave you considered Stind for a boy or Slammas for a girl? Tim also has new imaginary friends called Kenno and Kendo, so there are two more suggestions for you.
ReplyDeleteBut what about Danish names? I think that would be nice.
Elaine
I like the traditional Nordic names (Knud, Bjarne, Thor or Tore Bjorn) but MK hates them and the usual Danish names are a bit odd to non danes eg Mads, Søren, Frode and so on then there are the older Nordic names like Helge, Bolge and others that are simply odd
ReplyDeleteHeidi, Skint, Brassic, Elmo, Phillis, Meit, Yamish, all names on the mind at the mo, unless you go for the wilderness ones posted on the "news" post (Puffin and Conifer) they work really shortened
ReplyDeleteJ
Bjarne is Bear in Danish (Bjorn in Swedish) what about An (Duck or maybe donky I am not too good at spelling!), Heste (horse)
ReplyDeleteI think we'll end up with something traditional. Girls names are easy, but boys are a bit tricky...
Yes. Dorothy Rose.
ReplyDeleteShe had a sister who died in infancy, called Harriet.
Aunt Mollie was Marie St Johnstone, don't know how that will translate!
Grannies were Edith Marie & Rose Hannah, I believe; George Glenn & William Wilkinson.
Names describing character left to the US - Randy, Butch, I recall, in the 70's.
Not too many rs, please.
Not Beryl, Freisha, Myrtle, Edith, Norah........
You didn't fancy the "Tom & Jerry?
m
3 people commented whilst I wrote
ReplyDeletemine!
How about Frodo?
there is alrady a thomas and J has William as a second name, it is starting to look egotistical to call all of your kids after yourself (George Forman has about 4 sons all called George Forman)
ReplyDeleteParents are the worst people in the world for picking names for their children. If you are having more than one child adopt a system, so you can remember who is who, alphabetical is good, our's cross referenced with car licensing, 1976 - P, 1977 - R, 1979 - T, unfortunately this failed in 1981 when there were no suitable names beginning with V.
ReplyDeletevictor, vincent, vlad - the impaler (might have worked), I'm sure there were many more.
ReplyDeleteA bit more difficult now unless there is a way of working 58 into the name! G