About Abby Sandel

Whether you're naming a baby, or just all about names, you've come to the right place! Appellation Mountain is a haven for lovers of obscure gems and enduring classics alike.

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  1. I might scare my Nan with it.

    It really should have been Snuffleupagus’ first name, over Aloysius.

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      1. Hey, it means she won’t find my other boy choices so, erm, ‘odd ‘ by comparison. Tactics, I have them 😛

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    2. We leak the outrageous names, too, Bewildertrix. You can almost hear the sigh of relief when we announce an obviously less crazy name that would have left crickets chirping if we hadn’t used this tactic. 🙂

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  2. I LOVED the book Theophilus North! However Theophilus is a lot of name, I would love it on another person’s child, but I’m not adventurous enough to bestow it on my own child (maybe as a middlename.)

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  3. Sorry, but this doesn’t seem like something that will catch on. All those consonants! All those syllables! I can’t see ever suggesting it, except as a joke, along with Jimothy and Tribeca (our joke boy and girl name when we want to mess with people’s heads).

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    1. Um…and Maximus? Are people actually using that? I’m sorry, but most of these ancient Roman names sound pretentious/goofy nowadays.

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      1. Photoquilty, I probably wouldn’t have believed it, either, but Maximus is pretty popular. (#258 in 2008 – fairly common as outlandish names go.) I think that one has a lot to do with Gladiator, and the craze for all Max- names.

        It is a lot of name – I hate to think of a bookish Maximus or a quarterback Theophilus – except that, as Max and Theo, no one would know until their names appeared in the graduation ceremony program anyway.

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      2. I personally know a 1.5 year old Maximus. His older brother is Christian, which seems a world apart, but there’s a big age gap and a different daddy in the mix for the boys. I agree Maximus is a lot of name… but he goes almost exclusively as Max and that doesn’t seem so odd.

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    2. Ah, but surely there is a baby out there answering to Tribeca … first one to spot it in a BA gets bragging rights. 🙂

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  4. Don’t forget that Mozart was christened Joannes Chrysostomus Wolfgangus Theophilus Mozart! Joannes Chrystsostomus was his saint’s name, since he was born on the feast of St. John Chrysostom, Wolfgang was the name of his maternal grandfather, and Theophilus was in honour of his godfather. Amadeus/Amade/Amadeo and Gottlieb were translations of Theophilus that the polyglott Mozart used during his lifetime.

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    1. Don’t forget?! I didn’t know! Thanks, Charlotte Vera. That’s a fabulous fact. 🙂

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      1. Ok, so I didn’t know about the first two names either before looking it up, but I remembered having read that Amadeus was just a translation of his actual name.

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