Monday, November 17, 2008

What's in a Name?

Now that there's a little Craig on the way, I've been spending quite a bit of time researching names. The lady and I have decided we'd like something British Isles in origin: Scots-Irish specifically.

Strangely enough, we've had little difficulty with female names. We both like names that can work for either sex for girls. For example, I like the names Aidan, Blair, Blake, Caley, Rian and Sian (Sean). And we're pretty much in agreement on some of these. Of course, we haven't narrowed things down yet. But there's plenty of time for that.

The boys' names, however, have proven a sticky wicket. For example, I'm a fan of the names Geoghan and Tadgh (pronounced Guillen and Tige, like tiger minus the r). But the spelling of these names has proven an issue. Should the poor kid have to tote around a Scots-Irish pronunciation key with him to school? Should he have to explain himself at every turn? Won't this get tiresome/annoying?

As for the lady, she likes Cade. But this is problematic. You see, the main character in much of my fiction is named Caden, Cade for short. And Caden gets into a shitload of shenanigans. Basically, I don't want the child named after an alterego.

And then there's Tavis. I prefer a different spelling of the name: Tavish. And there we differ.

I never thought this name choosing would be so difficult. I imagined we'd hack it out in an hour or two and that'd be that. Not so.

You're branding your child with an identity. That name you give him or her builds character. And you don't want to screw up.

So, I like Geoghan and Tadgh, Riordan, Madoc and Tavish. One can always change the spelling to make things easier to pronounce.

Any suggestions?

3 comments:

Unknown said...

My newphew's name is Kieran (KEER-in). I rather like that name.
Other favorite Isles-ish names:
Violet
Cordelia
Seamus
Siobhan
Alastair
Nigel

Jenni B. said...

I like Tavish . The other spelling makes me think of Tavis Smiley.

I second Seamus from the suggestion above (though that brings pronunciation problems of its own).

Browsing a list of British Isles names, I also like Cobb, Ennis, and Knox (this last name is probably ruined, however, by the fact that Angelina Jolie just named one of her kids Knox).

Craig said...

yeah, i agree on the tavis smiley thing. and kieran could work either way.
and though i like knox, we all know a bunch of people are going to name their kids knox after the brangelina child (evidence: the sudden popularity of "jayden" after britney spears' named her child that).
but yeah, i like a lot of those names. we'll just have to see what works out.