Esau and Jacob presesnted to Isaac; Image via Wikipedia
His twin brother’s name has been on top since 1999.
Baby Name of the Day: Esau
Where every name has a story
Where every name has a story
Esau and Jacob presesnted to Isaac; Image via Wikipedia
His twin brother’s name has been on top since 1999.
My friend with 4 boys (all with “E” biblical names) tells people, who joke about her trying for a girl. “No, because if I have another boy the only name left is Esau.” Since most people react as if Esau is a horrible jokey name, I don’t think it will be come popular anytime soon.
I don’t mind the name and while I don’t think the biblical Esau is namesake material… that hasn’t stopped parents from using Saul, Delilah or Athaliah.
Esau….Esau…why do I know that name? Oh yeah:
“I saw Esau kissing Kate,
The fact is we all three saw;
For I saw him,
And he saw me,
And she saw I saw Esau.”
It was a vocal warm-up we did in drama club.
I’m not a fan of the sound personally — too hee haw for my tastes. However, I don’t think “bad twin” when I hear the name. Esau was just a bit (or a lot) dumb. He foolishly sold his birthright for a bowl of lentils. Now I like lentils, but not that much! It seems he smartened up a bit as he got older, and one could even argue that he was the nice twin; when Jacob returned to meet him after many years’ separation Esau offered him both forgiveness and friendship. Jacob had somewhat cowardly sent his wives and household on ahead of himself in case Esau greeted him with violence and anger.
Not for me. But it brings to mind a question: Why is Cain (and Kane and Cane and Caine and Kaine) getting popular, but not Abel?
Cain, being a murderer, seems “bad boy”. He can be seen as a rebel against orthodoxy who got frustrated with a seemingly arbitrary worship system (God likes meat, not vegetables). Maybe he’s even a vegetarian hero???!!
Abel’s a victim, not to mention a pious one. Nobody wants to name their child after a victim.
Although personally, I prefer the name Abel to Cain. It just sounds more positive to me.
I choose to believe parents are choosing Kane/Caine because of the surname, a la Michael Caine* and Charles Foster Kane. But I’m guessing at least some parents are picking the name because of the saying “raising Cain.”
Why oh why would you want to name your child after such a violent expression?
Why do people name their sons Gunner and Cannon?
I LOVE the name Abel 🙂 Kane/Cane not so much…
Aw, I’ve always loved Esau. I think part of what keeps him down is that his pronunciation isn’t always obvious. Even I sometimes forget if it’s EE-saw or EE-S-OW. And yes, it would be difficult to give that connotation of ‘bad twin’ to a child.
I personally like Esau because he sounds like Isa which is the Arabic for Jesus. Not the same name but a similar sound and Biblical. Works for me!
One novel that really solidified my love for the name Esau is the Orson Scott Card book “Rebekah” from his Women of Genesis series. The book goes into great detail about Esau’s nickname Edom because of his red hair. I’m too rusty on my Jewish history, but I’m pretty sure Edom is a name that hasn’t exactly caught on either.
There’s the actor Esai Morales (I thought he was Esau). Esai seems more modern to me.
Esau was put out as a potential name for the kid who became Simon. Bumbling, ineffective and above all, whiny. That’s the Biblical Esau to me. And Simon being half of twins… well, suffice to say I didn’t like the thought of Leo & Esau. Nevermind that they rhyme a tiny bit!
I don’t like Jacob either, hecomes across as a little bit of an opportunist to me. A tiny bit of braggart and quite full of himself. So I’ll never use Jacob either: popular or not. I like Biblical names but prefer mine a bit more consonant heavy. My favorites right now? Vashti & Boaz. Have you covered those two, Abby? If not, maybe you can?
Here is Boaz https://appellationmountain.net/2009/06/18/name-of-the-day-boaz/
I second Vashti, though; love it’s velvety feel, even though it’s not my usual style. It also reminds me of Vashti Bunyan, one of my favourite singers!
Thanks, I’ll read it now!
Thanks for featuring Esau today. The rise in vowel-laden names is what got me thinking about Esau.
The donkey connection is interesting to me, because that’s what I hear with Brayden, Brayleigh and all the “bray” names.
According to Nancy,
http://www.nancy.cc/boy-names-that-start-with-the-letter-e/
57 boys were named Esau last year in the US. With about one per state chances are slim I’ll ever encounter one. Perhaps as a middle name?
I grew up in a religious household, and I don’t really think failure so much as “not smart.” Esau is portrayed as being kind of a blundering box of rocks. Not something I want to associate with any future children . . .
I think it’s because no one knows how to pronounce it — you hear it in church, but it’s not exactly an everyday kind of story or reference. I know it’s Eee-saw, but Es-way or Es-a-you make just as much sense based on spelling alone. None of those things are tremendously attractive as names.
I think the sound of the name plus its strange look — so many vowels — has kept Esau from being given in large numbers to little boys from 1880 to the present. Esau has made the SSA Top 1000 only four times (1890, 1894, 1897, 1902) and at that, always in the 900s. Not only was Jacob the more successful biblical twin, but his name sounds so much stronger and appealing and has the cool nn Jake.
And Meryl is right: the name Esau — hee haw — makes me think of a donkey too.
I just can’t get past the donkey-like “hee haw” resemblance… :/