The weight of responsibility
I’ve been furiously searching for a name for my soon-to-be nephew. My older brother called me the other day and asked for help. I love looking at name origins in general (goes along with my interest in etymology as well as my interest in cultural self-identity), so it’s not a task I am not excited about — I am!
But man! It’s hard. I have two requirements from the big bro:
- It must be unique, but not so unusual or wacky that it’ll be a constant source of teasing for the kid.
- It must sound “strong”.
I’ve already had a list rejected outright, except one name, which made the cut. In addition, the ladies of the family (the mom-to-be, my sister, my mom) all are interested in a name with a biblical link of some sort. My brother is like, “Eh,” about the idea, but he’s not against it.
So I’ve been trying to do modern variations on some of the lesser known biblical names, but it’s really hard. I’ve been using the following to websites as my primary resources in research:
- Baby Name Wizard’s NameVoyager (associated blog here)
- Nymbler (this is also associated with the same person as the above websites)
I have come to the amateurish conclusion that the letters p, t, k, m, n, and x (when not at the beginning) are “strong-sounding” letters and that the letters h, l, j, r, b, and s are not, where “strong-sounding” is extremely subjective.
And no, I’m not thinking of your name and judging you or anything like that. 🙂 I’m sure whatever you think I am thinking of your name, I have never thought it.
Jack Bauer
James Bond
Jason Bourne
All J and B. Not strong?
New name: Jaybee
A_B
At least you didn’t say BJ.
…
Why did I go there?!
Seppo’s short list consisted of TheManTheyCall Jayne and… Wait, I can’t even think of the other one.
I’m reconsidering the B.
I love j names for boys and girls, so maybe it’s just the category of j names I’m looking at that is making me think this. Hmm.
I should just make my bro name my nephew after my favorite characters from 80s movies. How is Lloyd? Heh.
^^^^^^^ Speaking of awesome J names!
Our son (ETA October 30th) is names Asher. We went for an slightly obscure biblical name and have gotten pretty solid reviews since the unveiling. Of course, what kind of a douche bag would tell you to your face that the name of your child sucks.
Name picking is hard.
That’s a great name! 🙂
I think if people don’t like it, they will say, “Oh… that’s interesting… So is that a family name?” Hee. Otherwise, I think the enthusiasm is genuine. 🙂
Gah… Came here to make the J/B argument, but A_B beat me to it.
Eli, Ezra, Caleb, Malachi, Malakai, Micah, Zeke, Gabriel, Elijah, Sardis (prince of joy).
Okay, I’m stopping there. I actually quite like Sardis.
One of my closest friend from high school named her son one of those names (not disclosed for anonymity). The funny thing is, that name is also the name of the hero in the first romance novel I ever read, so I crack up every time.
😀 I do like a couple of those and will be nominating them to the bro for consideration. Thanks! 🙂
My brother and I have also added the following condition:
The name must sound good when following a title such as “Your Honor”, “President”, “Parole Officer” (j/k), Doctor, etc. 😀 Hee. hee.
My sis and her husband came up with Calvin for the first reason you state: unique, but not unusual. But I honestly think my sis picked it because it’s got “Cal” in it (she’s crazy about UC Berkeley).
Best of luck!