I’ve been having a terribly irreverent name-related thought in church lately.
Poor Mary. She didn’t get to name her kid!
In all of the accounts I’ve ever heard, the angel tells Mary that she’s having a boy, and that she’s going to name him Jesus.
It’s a fitting name, of course – a cousin to Joshua, it means “God is salvation.” And this is no ordinary story of choosing a name.
But was it a common name in his time? Actually, yes. All of the accounts I’ve found indicate that Jesus was as ordinary as Mason or Jackson today.
It’s a nice reminder that your child’s name doesn’t have to be unique or extraordinary for his life to unfold in dramatic, world-changing ways.
And yet, it also makes me wonder – did you face any pressure to give your child a specific name? I’m not talking angels-we-have-heard-on-high, just regular pressure?
Elsewhere:
- Along those lines, I always wonder if parents are happier when they cave to family pressure, or resist? Here’s a question to the NameLady about renaming a toddler to fit with family tradition.
- In last week’s poll, Rose – just Rose – stood out as the favorite version of the name, with nearly 1/4 of the vote! But Rosalie, Rosemary, and Rosalind weren’t far behind. Add them up, and Rose-plus names were more popular. Just those three choices accounted for about 49% of the vote. And there’s no shortage of amazing Rose names.
- Do you know anything about Greenlandic names? If not for this great summary from Vernoeming, I would have had to answer no. Now I’m kind of in love with Ivalu.
- Mia is massive. Baby Name Pondering tells us why Sia could be next.
- The Hemingway family tree is packed with great names. My long-time favorite is Mariel, but there’s something for everyone at Tulip By Any Name.
- Interesting place names spotted by For Real – Scotland and Holland, both on girls. I do like an exotic place name.
- A great new-to-me smoosh name: Anastella, via Ren.
- Speaking of smooshes, look what I found on this list of seasonally-appropriate names that aren’t specifically Christian? Wintergrace. Could be an amazing middle.
- I find this list just plain weird. Though I appreciate the idea, and can certainly imagine many reasons a family might want a military-inspired baby name. Yes to Liberty and Honor. But wouldn’t it be sort of weird to name your child Navy while you’re serving in the Navy? Still, it’s a great color name possibility.
Lots of the NATO phonetic alphabet in that post – and in general discussion, since the arrival of Dax Shepard and Kristen Bell’s daughter Delta. There are more real possibilities than you might imagine! We had a great Facebook discussion about which ones we’d actually consider for a child.- This is a really interesting point from Duana – we tend to dismiss names because of associations we make from pop culture. But so often our children won’t grow up with those associations.
- Are you going to give him a white name? A powerful essay on names and identity at the Motherlode.
- If I lived near Parkview Noble Hospital, I’d be parked in front of this sign. Lots.
- Christmas-inspired baby names en français.
That’s all for this week. As always, thank you for reading – and have a fabulous week – including Christmas and Kwanzaa if you’re celebrating!
Wintergrace, ooooh. Anything Winter makes me swoon!
Navy first started being used in New England in the late 18th century, when the US first got a navy. I’ve often wondered whether the first Navys were the sons and daughters of me in the navy, or whether it was just a generally patriotic choice.
The first name my two year old ever picked for one of her dolls is Sia…after a little girl we met at the pumpkin patch.
The thing that’s fascinating about Scotland is that unlike most place-names used as given names (which pattern, in English, stems from the 16th C when surnames started being used as given names, and many surnames are themselves derived from place names), it actually dates quite early — in the Latinized form Scotlandus it is dated to 1081, and another variant, Scotlande, is found in 1101-67.