A blog from The Herald and www.thisisplymouth.co.uk

Saturday 19 January 2008

What's in a name?

So we've reached the stage of trying to decide on a name for the baby. Our three year old has already chosen Lola for a girl and for a boy...Mr Bump.
We've decided we may not go with those options, and have drawn up a shortlist, as well as digging out the old shortlist we had four years ago.
We showed it to father-in-law last weekend and he hated them all...so we must be doing something right.
I've kind of settled on Delta as a perfect first name for a girl. Our first is called Trinity as she is the third member of the family (among other reasons) and Delta would fit perfectly with the name/number system as it is the fourth letter of the Greek alphabet (pretentious, εγώ?)
We are having trouble deciding on a middle name though. Trinity's middle name is Africa, as that is where she was conceived, but three-bed-semi-in-Wimbledon doesn't have the same ring, much more suitable for a Womble.
We thought Delta Dawn, bit too American, then Delta Echo...but where do you stop Delta Echo Foxtrot Golf?
Boys names, a lot more difficult. I kind of settled on Seth, the third son of Adam and Eve in the Bible - the ancestor of Noah and hence the forefather of all mankind. Medieval lore has it that as Adam lay on his deathbed he sent Seth back into the Garden of Eden. Seth convinced the Archangel Michael to open the gates and once inside he collected three seeds from the Tree of Life. Those seeds were placed in Adam's mouth before he was buried and grew to become the trees that provided the wood for the three crosses on Golgotha. Not a bad name.
Of course father-in-law points out that Seth is also one of the Egyptian gods of the underworld, the Lord of Chaos and the god of people with red hair. Now death and chaos I can stomach..but gingers *shudder*
Personally I was more concerned people might think he was named after Seth Armstrong off of Emmerdale Farm. Then again I was named after Neil Armstrong so there's some connection there.
Obviously the internet is the best place to find baby names, and I've developed a new found respect for the Miwok tribes after coming across the name Tumu, meaning a deer thinking about eating wild onions. Now there's a word you need in your life. Much of the Miwok languages seem to be made up of similar concepts, the sound of a bears claws, the cry of a hen harrier while descending, the noise of a salmon in a slow-running stream. I think I might just go with Nigel.

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