He’s a prophet and a baker, too. But would he work for a boy born in ’09?
Thanks to Lola for suggesting Amos as Name of the Day.
Back in the Old Testament, Amos was a prophet. We don’t know much about his life. He was probably born in the Bethlehem ‘burbs. Before he took up prophecy work, Amos tended sheep. Or possibly trees. Or both.
In any case, he’s a legitimate Biblical boy. The name comes from the Hebrew amas – to carry. You’ll also see the name’s meaning given as burdened – Amos’ prophecies were rather bleak, and presumably he was toting quite a lot on shoulders.
Maybe that’s why those serious Puritans latched on to Amos. His heyday was probably in the 1700s. He remained reasonably common right through the nineteenth century. Early American history is riddled with many a famous Amos, including:
- Postmaster General and key advisor to President Andrew Jackson, Amos Kendall;
- Louisa May’s father, Amos Bronson Alcott, a teacher, reformer and writer in his own right;
- Early football player and coach, Amos Alonzo Stagg.
But some of the most notable bearers of the name have worn it in the last spot, like singer Tori Amos and cookie maven Wally Amos.
Wally Amos’ cookie career started young, but he left behind a childhood passion for pastries to become a talent agent with the William Morris Agency. Instead of selling his cookies, he sent them – to famous clients like Diana Ross and the Supremes. In the 1970s, he finally opened a cookie company bearing the name Famous Amos. The cookies – and the man himself – appeared in a 1981 episode of televison favorite Taxi, transforming Famous Amos to instant household name. While he no longer owns the brand, he’s still baking.
20th centuries bearers of the first name are harder to come by. There’s Tom Hanks’ father, Amos Hanks. JK Rowling used the name for Cedric Diggory’s dad in the Harry Potter franchise.
Odds are that Amos has fallen on hard times thanks to long-running comedy Amos’n’Andy, a radio show that leapt to the big and small screens despite ongoing criticism of the African-American stereotypes it portrayed. NAACP protests led to the demise of the television series in the 1960s. Perhaps some of that controversy still taints the name today.
There’s also Amos’ anatomical unfortunate sound-alike. It could make for some rough teenage years.
But Amos also bears a resemblance to amicus – the Latin for friend. It inspired the medieval feminine name Amice and masculine variants like Amis. An old French legend told of the friendship between Amis et Amile.
With the return of virtue names for girls – and the relatively small pool of them for boys – could Amos be a brother for Felix?
There’s also a place-name case for Amos. An ancient city in Turkey was called Amos, as well as modern-day towns in California and Quebec.
Since he last ranked in 1997, odds are that you won’t meet another – that might be enough to tempt some parents to rediscover Amos.
Amos is great. Easy to spell, not prone to mis-pronounnciation. Memorable … no prospective client will forget meeting Amos Butler. And if little Amos hates it, he can hide it behind an initial … A. Daniel Butler.
I absolutely LOVE Amos, and I think he brothers quite well with our current favorite, Moses. However, and I mentioned this on the ‘Angus’ entry, we have to be extra careful of body part sound-alikes because the last name is Butler. My husband tells me that kids will tease ‘Butler’ no matter what the first name is, but I think there is something to be said for not making it worse. So I think Amos is out, which is really too bad, because I think Amos Butler sounds sweetly old-fashioned.
I kinda like Amos. Its an unusual Biblical name that would be refreshing to see on a child these days.
I love Amos. He’s strong, simple and thoroughly familiar to folks without being Jacob. His anus soundilke thing there is something I forget about until someone else points it out, then I think for 30 seconds, discount it and am in love with Amos again. I think he sounds great with my exisiting kids, even. Now to find the perfect pairing for him!
Amos still ranks! He clings on to the end of the list. I love it, anus or no anus. 😛
RF, you get a cookie for typing anus instead of body part. Or whatever my inner internet Puritan called it. 😉
I also had never made the body-part connection. I think this name would work well in today’s world – most younger people have never heard of Amos and Andy, for example. I only ever think of the Famous Amos reference, and I remember that Taxi episode! 🙂
Amos is cool. I hadn’t even thought of the unfortunate sound-alike until you mentioned it. I guess because Amos is so familiar to me (via biblical associations and the cookies) it seems “normal” enough not to be tease-worthy, if that makes sense. It’s not a common name by any means, but it certainly feels like a usable name.
Mmm, I like it, but yeah, would be worried about his anatomical sound-alike, too 🙂 Eamon is similar sounding, but sidesteps the whole two-keystrokes-away-from-body-part thing. But yeah, if someone has the guts to pull this off, then more power to them 🙂
I like Amos, I would be worried about the ‘anatomical sound-alike’, too, though. That’s why I discounted Angus.
I actually kind of like Amos, but have concern about the ‘anatomical sound-alike’ you mentioned. Otherwise, I like him a lot… He just lacks much in the way of nicknames, which is a personal thing.