This week’s prompt from the Egotist’s Club book meme has been so much fun! But then, I like making up names and thinking about what I would call pets, children, and characters of my own.
I read a lot of Fantasy, so the names I like tend towards the Medieval and Mythical. You know, names like Gawain, Jaenelle, Genevieve, Morrigan, Nivienne, and de’Bracy.
However, I love my future offspring far too much to saddle them with any of those names. They’re beautiful yes, but they’re also difficult to say, difficult to spell, and won’t fit on any government forms. Besides, if your average Starbucks barista has trouble spelling “Leah” correctly, just think of the horrors that will result from trying to sound out “Eilonwy”!
So, given my taste in books, are there any suitable candidates for the children that will inevitably appear in my life at some point?
I personally have developed an attachment to the name “Alanna” (which, according to various baby name websites, means “beautiful”, “noble”, “precious”, and possibly “deer” or “rock”). I first stumbled across the name in Tamora Pierce’s Song of the Lioness quartet and loved the way it looked on the page and the way it sounded when I said it aloud. And while I didn’t approve of all of the character’s decisions throughout the series, Pierce’s Alanna is hard-working, determined, and kind, despite her temper – all traits that I’d be okay with my daughter possessing.
I’ve yet to find any male characters whose names I like enough to pass on. Most of my favorites have names that are too tongue-tangling to saddle a child with, and many of the names I like come from characters who don’t really leave an impression. Still, I live in hope! 
May 14, 2012
Golden Bookwyrm
5 responses to “Week 5 – Future Progeny Shall Be Dubbed…”
David
May 27th, 2012 at 00:17
It occurs to me that part of it isn’t necessarily modern vs. medieval-ish names, but also the language-culture we live in. I kind of like Ambrosius/Ambrosio, but those would make awkward names in American culture. Yet I’ve met a Mexican man named Ambrocio, so perhaps it’s not so awkward in a Spanish-language culture. And Genevieve is probably not so exotic in the cultural sphere of French!
Haha, I briefly considered Eilonwy, too, because there’s something just awesomely Welsh about that name, but it’d be cruel to give it to a child. Well, maybe if she could be called Eileen or Eily for short, maybe that wouldn’t get her teased or embarrassed as much in public, and she could be Eilonwy at home…
Golden Bookwyrm
May 27th, 2012 at 20:03
I agree one hundred percent about the language-culture – I’m from a Spanish background, so we have names like “Josefina” and “Antonio” in the family (and you don’t hear those ones too often), but we don’t have any “Ashley”s or “Brittney”s or such.
Welsh names sound so cool, and they look awesome too (though, what they look like and what they sound like rarely coincide)!
David
May 27th, 2012 at 21:02
Haha, true about the Welsh.
Actually, my family’s an interesting case. Most of us are Italian, and my grandparents were immigrants from Sicily and Calabria (and Vienna). But while the older generations have more Italian names (even if Anglicized) like Rosalie, Audrey, Biondina, Orlando, Beni, and Adeline, their children and grandchildren have names like Roy, Elizabeth, Joe, Michelle, Brandon, Christine, David, etc. Our culture is American now, with only a little Italian from our heritage, and so we don’t use the Italian names as often for our children (although at least one of my cousins has tried to bring some of that back).
Golden Bookwyrm
May 27th, 2012 at 21:42
That’s becoming the case with us – my cousins and I have more mainstream names, but almost all of them are Biblical. The hardcore Spanish names belong to my grandpa and his siblings, and then my mom’s generation has a lot of “Jr.s” of those names. For most of my generation, the family names have become middle names, though my little sister inherited my great-aunt’s first name.
David
May 28th, 2012 at 10:52
Biblical names tend to be beautifully cross-cultural. Mary/Marie/Maria. Michael/Michel/Miguel. The mainstays will always be good names in any culture at any time. Granted, not every biblical name is an easy fit: my nephew’s middle name is Jedediah, on account of it being common among my brother-in-law’s family, but it wouldn’t make the best first name, at least not where I live!