Will she be lonesome? Or will she flock together with Robin and Wren, Avis and Paloma?
Thanks to Photoquilty for suggesting Dove as Name of the Day.
As I started to write this article, I realized I might be making a big mistake. While I thought of Dove as an avian-inspired name for girls, Dov has a history of use as a masculine moniker with Hebrew origins. And Dov boasts paws, not wings – it means bear.
But an American-born Dove is probably a girl. A handful were born in the late nineteenth century – enough to appear in the Top 1000 a few times. Dov has never appeared in the US rankings – though Talon has clawed his way up the charts in recent years.
A dove is a close cousin to the pigeon. There are a few hundred birds in the Columbidae family, and at least a handful of personal names related to the dove, including Jonah and Jemima. The standard-issue urban avian is the feral rock pigeon; let’s just say that we’ve yet to meet a child called named after them.
As a word, dove is thought to relate to the Germanic dubon – to dive, related to their pattern of flight – via the Old English dufe.
As a name, Dove could read as a deeply spiritual choice. In the Biblical story of Noah, it is a dove who appears to signify the end of the floods. And the dove is used by many Christian denominations to signify the holy spirit.
But the dove can be found in plenty of non-Christian – and non-Western – traditions, too. In fact, the dove’s use as a symbol of peace is probably more familiar than the religious associations. This put Dove squarely in virtue name territory – more Hope than Nevaeh.
Searching for famous people named Dove didn’t produce much, but fantasy writer Tamora Pierce used a related name for a character in her young adult novels – Dovesary. That hasn’t caught on with real life children any more than Dove, but you never can tell.
And, if you’ve ever picked your way through an Italian phrasebook, dove means one more thing – where – as in dove si trova il museo?, if memory serves.
While virtually any flower name can be bestowed on a daughter, bird names are a bit tougher to wear. Kestrel might work. I suppose you could call a son Kingfisher. Or even Hawk, thought that’s probably a mistake. But Tanager? Parrot? Vulture? Most of those ideas are, pardon my pun, cuckoo.
When stacked up against the rest of the aviary, Dove seems like one of the more wearable options. If you’re looking for a noun name, Dove isn’t as strange as, say, Refrigerator. And girls wear the equally nature-inspired Brooke or other simple noun names like Faith.
Overall, Dove would probably work in the first place, but perhaps is best reserved for the middle.
I knew someone whose name was spelt Dove but for some reason it was pronounced Dove-y. I was quite a young child at the time and tended to be extremely opinionated on names I’d never heard before — I thought the name was stupid and now I can’t quite shake those childish emotions. Also, when I see Dove I want to say “Dovey”. Dovesary, on the other hand, I find rather appealing.
I think I like it. I don’t think Erik would ever let me do it. But in all honesty, it has a pleasing sound, and definitely is different from all the -a ending names I like: Nora, Clara, Lana,etc.
I see something appealing about Dove. I think, though, that it strikes me more as a pet name (not the doggy kind of pet, the baby/childish nickname kind of pet) than a given name. And for some reason I’m hearing British nannies in my head addressing a child as “Dovey”… not sure why, though.
I do like Dov, though, so that probably helps me see Dove as not too far out there…
All in all, not as appealing as Wren or Phoebe, but far more appealing than Emu or Penguin.
At first I thought Dove (DUHV) had too much “duh” in it, but I’ve said it a half a dozen times and it’s quite soft and, I’ll admit, there is something appealing about it. I’d have to agree that it sounds like a middle to me, more than a first. Now Paloma, that’s a different story – I love that name and it’s great up front! I actually quite like bird names, although not Robin – but Wren, Raven, and I was on a Lark kick for a while (which always met with a bark of laughter from my other half). I personally know a Kestral who is in his 30s and thought it was a fairly cool name (in the UK – and his brother is Falco, which in context seems one letter short of Falcon, but always makes me think of ‘Rock Me Amadeus’ instead). As for Bek’s British nannies – maybe it’s because it wouldn’t be unusual to use the similar sounding “Lovey” as a pet name (as well as Love, Poppet, and Pet) in the UK. Overall, Dove (*not* Dovey) is kind of growing on me a bit and would make a great middle name.
My first thought was ‘oh dear’, but after repeating it to myself a few times, I can appreciate it – it’s rather soft and simple and reserved. It would make a lovely middle really, perhaps to balance out a more extravagant name such as Penelope Dove or Victoria Dove or something.
I do have the urge to pronounce it do-VEY, kind of like duvet, but with the O sound for an odd reason, and Dovey too. Maybe it stems from what JNE expressed -I always call my kids lovey and my friends love? My sister uses Poppet.
Dove is a toiletries type brand in Australia, with shampoo and soap products everywhere, so I’d never use her for that reason. (Much like Allegra in the US I gather?!)
She’s rather pleasing, and a mostly wearable bird name; though I agree, it’s best suited to the middle
Sophie — Oh, we have Dove soap products in the U.S., too, but that’s not at all what I thought of upon hearing the name. The bird association is far stronger in my mind. The big problem with Allegra in the U.S. is that most people are familiar with the word ONLY as an allergy medication.
I do like bird names for girls, quite a lot actually. Wren is my favorite, but I’m also drawn to Lark, Kestrel, and even Nightingale (as a middle only). I could see Dove working, but it would definitely be middle material for me.
Photoquilty — where did you get the idea to suggest this as Name of the Day? Do you know someone named Dove? Or had you heard it being used as a given name before? I’ve never heard of Dove being used as a name.
Ooh – thanks for the clarification
I’m really glad Allegra’s ‘just a name’ over here.. I rather like her!
Emily – I saw it as a middle name online (I think at Y!A, but can’t remember for sure). Clara Dove sounds really pretty.
I think she makes a cool nickname for Paloma or Audovere. Perhaps a bit too much as a full fledged first name.
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I’ve used it just recently in a double-barreled first name, Cora Dove. I’ve received many compliments, so hopefully my husband and I are not the only ones who like it.
Cora Dove is gorgeous! So that’s three of us and counting …
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