Coins of Cunobelenus; Image via Wikipedia
He’s a literary king with a pretty, pretty name.
Thanks to Lucy for suggesting Cymbeline as our Baby Name of the Day.
Like many of Shakespeare’s stories, Cymbeline was based on historical accounts and traditional tales.
I LOVE this name! To me it sounds completely feminine and one could definitely get away with giving a daughter this name. I also love Clementine 🙂
You haven’t mentioned the Pink Floyd song ‘Cymbaline’. I’m guessing it’s becausee of the spelling difference? I have no idea why Pink Floyd would alter the spelling, but I guess it was for a good reason, perhaps only to make it more musical with the cymbal connection 🙂
I love Cymbeline and Cymbaline, depending on whether I want to reference Shakespeare or Pink Floyd. I would say I have a more personal relationship to the latter, but we’ll see 🙂
I would use it for a girl, it’s just to feminine for a boy. I would also nickname her Bell 🙂
I have a giant blind spot as far as Pink Floyd is concerned. Really. It’s one of the ongoing debates in my marriage. That and the thermostat setting. HIM: “How can you NOT think Pink Floyd is genius?” ME, shrugging: “I dunno. I like Zeppelin better.” HIM, eyes bulging: “Zeppelin is great, but Floyd? Floyd is visionary. And hey, did you turn the thermostat up again?”
It’s a good addition – despite my ignorance of all things Floyd! – thank you!
My mother intoduced me to Pink Floyd when I was younger, but I’ve always wanted to get into Zeppelin as well. I feel like I need a guide to tell me where to begin though, and no one has jumped at the chance yet 🙂
Yay Cymbeline! I think I am more and more gravatating towards her in the first name spot, she’s just too darn fun to say, plus I can get the nickname Luna out of her, so happy days all ’round.
I love Cymbeline! It’s literary, it’s quirky and it sounds fresh and spunky.
10x better than Crew. I’ll leave it at that. Maybe 1000x.
I agree that it sounds a lot more feminine at this point in time. I also agree with the other posters who thought that Cymbeline would make a great, unexpected middle name. It isn’t my cup of tea, but I could see it appealing to some people with off-beat tastes.
I wouldn’t name a son Vivian or Joscelin and I wouldn’t use Cymbeline. To me the -line suffix reads 100% female. Cinbelin seems more “usable” for a male, but then you lose the connection to the play. As a girl’s name I can see the appeal, but it feels like a smoosh a la Kimberlynn and Amberlie.
It’s a quirk of mine, it would drive me nuts to meet a female Cymbeline, just like it drives me nuts that my husband’s colleague has a daughter named Regan. In my head I just keep thinking “Regan was the evil daughter, why didn’t they name her Cordelia.”
The trouble with Cymbeline is that it’s also the name of a famous bridal gown designer (or maybe it’s just the company’s name, I’m not sure). What if little Cymbeline wants to go into wedding fashion? Will he/she have to change her name then?
Cymbeline is very pretty! I know I prefer it on a girl. I think I suggested Anna Cymbeline on Nameberry. 🙂 I really like it in the middle, but wouldn’t be surprised to see it as a first name, since Cy is one of those nicknames that seems to slide girly on occasion. I could never call a girl Cy, which is why it’s such a stellar middle for me but I can definitely see it for someone else as a first. Cymbeline is fabulous!
I have always heard Cymbeline pronounced “SIM-buh-LEEN”, with emphasis on the first and third syllables (it definitely scans that way in the iambic pentameter).
The ending sounds more like the “leen” of Kathleen than the “lin/len” of Madeleine or the “line” of Caroline and Clementine.