Rue is among the Hunger Games names most likely to catch on. Roux was launched more than a decade ago by a very different movie.
Thanks to Night for suggesting Roux as our Baby Name of the Day.
The first time I heard Roux as a given name was in 2000’s dreamy Chocolat, a movie adapted from a novel. A dreamy romance set in a fictional French village circa 1959, the story centers on a woman named Vianne and her young daughter Anouk. Vianne has come to the village from parts unknown to open a chocolate shop. It’s a wild success, but it also puts Vianne at odds with the village elders. As for Roux, well, he’s a gypsy and just as much of an outsider as Vianne. All ends well, with Roux and Vianne making a life together. In the movie, Vianne is played by Juliette Binoche, and Roux by Johnny Depp.
Depp’s dashing character put the name on the radar, but only just. After all, Roux was a nickname in the story, given in honor of the gypsy’s hair color. And the very look of the name is off-putting, inviting English-speakers to pronounce it rux, rhymes with trucks.
Even if we get it right, our thoughts are likely to turn not to chocolate desserts but to sauces. A roux is a mixture of flour and butter, a key ingredient for several sauces and part of preparing gravies and soups, too. It is a foundation of French cooking, but a similar process is found in other cuisines. If we don’t name our children Sauté, then Roux is also likely to seem like a non-starter, unless you’re naming a restaurant.
Except that right now there are two forces converging to lift Roux as a possibility:
- The roo sound, found in Rue and Ruth and Ruby, feels very current.
- Roux is, ultimately a color term from the Latin russus – a reddish brown; russet. With color names from Violet to Gray all the rage, any hue seems like a possibility, even an obscurity like Roux.
Six girls were given the name Roux in 2011, along with thirteen Rues. It isn’t a blip on the boys’ side, though names like Ruben and Rufus could make the sound appealing across gender lines.
And yet, Roux skews feminine, both because of the gussied-up appearance of the spelling (Margaux, anyone?) and a host of pop culture associations, from the Hunger Games heroine to the bitter evergreen to Golden Girl Rue McLanahan.
So file this one as a maybe – a quirky color name with culinary overtones that just might work anyway.
There’s also the British pop duo La Roux. My teen was OBSESSED with them a couple of summers ago, so she was shattered to learn that Roux was not pronounced “rocks.”
My nephew, Andrew, used to answer to “Rew”.
Roux will always be butter and flour to me, although the French Rouquin “redhead” feels like a possibility.
I like Rue, but Roux just looks too odd to my Anglophone eyes. Plus it doesn’t help that I know a dog named Rooh, who named himself, because he literally goes “Roooooooooooooo”
roux – a bit saucy
rue – were i french it would be right up my street.
laura rose – i rue to inform you that you cannot have anglophone eyes as anglophone means english-speaking.
I’d also prefer Rue, for several of the previously mentioned reasons but also because it was the name of a character in a retelling of Rapunzel by Cameron Dokey.
I love the name Rue because it has so many different facets, depending on the context (and spelling) it could be a cooking term, a street, or a feeling of regret. It has been on my guilty pleasures list for a while now but the Hunger Games renewed my interest and now I have been seriously considering using it as a girls name or possibly a nickname for a boy…maybe Rupert, Ruben or Rouen/Ruan?
*also the name of an herb/plant 🙂
I live FAR too close to Louisiana for roux to be anything other than the base for gumbo! Rue isn’t terrible, but I agree with C in DC that, if I heard either one yelled in the park, I would think they were saying Roo and assume it was a pet name.
@Charlotte Vera — But “rue” means “to feel sorrow, repentance, or regret”. Much more negative in my mind than being named after a food.
I know, and for that reason I wouldn’t go for it either. However, sorrow still feels more romantic than gravy! Plus there’s the plant. . .
No mention of Rue McClanahan (Blanche from Golden Girls)?
A worthy addition – thanks!
We’ve been watching a lot of Winnie the Pooh lately, so my first thought is Roo. I think Roux/Roo could make a cute nn for Robert, Rupert, or other R boys name. I wonder if Russet has potential as a name, as an update to the dated Russell.
I agree. I see the Roo sounding names as quite plausible nicknames, but not as given names.
Russet is too much a type of potato for me.
That’s a great idea – I really like Roux/Roo for Robert … though my favorite Robert nn is Bo. Met one once and it has really stayed with me.
My first thought is the well known family of chefs – Michel Roux, Albert Roux, Michel Roux Jr & Alain Roux. I could see some wanting to use the name Rue, but spelling it Roux to get the trendy x.
I confess that when I see it spelt R-O-U-X I immediately think of a base for sauces. Rue is far more appealing.