www.byzcath.org Forums General Discussions Town Hall Non Christian Names

What do you think of all these new Non-Christian names that everyone is now giving their children? How are they going to find a Saint to look up to? Most kids don't give a second thought to ancillary Baptismal names because their parents don't care about their religion.

I don't like it.

I had a patient who named her daughter "McKenzie," I asked her if she knew what the name meant. She said she didn't and didn't like it when I told her what it meant.

I mean we have kids named Taylor who don't sew, Cooper who don't make barrels, Fletcher who don't make arrows, etc... ad nauseum ad infinitum. Worst of all, they seem to be given to girls!!!

I know this is going to ruffle some feathers, I apologize in advance.

I don't like it myself. I think that children can resent their "church name" that they must be called at Holy Communion because that isn't what others call them. I had a little William in one of my parishes who strongly disliked being called his baptismal name, Basil.

We named our own five children with Saints names and Matushka and I don't even use nicknames when addressing them because their names and Saints are so beautiful:

Emily (for St Emilia, mother of St Basil the Great),
Anna (for St Anna the Ancestor of God),
Katharine (for St Katharine the Great-Martyr),
Juliana (for St Juliana the Merciful of Lazarevo), and
Nicolas (for St Nicolas the Wonderworker - our family's Patron Saint).

Fr David Straut

IT is not allowed in the Ukrainian Orthodox Church. You can only be baptised in the name of an Orthodox saint.

Okay, I'll bite. What does 'McKenzie' mean?

Fr David

I believe McKenzie derives from the Gaelic name meaning "Son of 'Coinneach.'" In any case, both "Mc" and "Mac" mean "son of," so I join Dr. Eric in his distaste for giving girls names that begin with "Mc" or "Mac."

Ryan

Some suggestions for different sounding names that are Christian Names:

Boys:
Abundius, Aedh (I wouldn't begin to try to pronounce that one, "Eth [soft th]) Bajulus, Byblig, Caedwalla, Cuthbert, Czeslaw, Dagobert, Duje, Egbert, Emygdius, Eochdaidh, Faelan, Frumentius, Gajan, Gualfardus, Habakkuk, Hroznata, Illidius, Iwigius, Jarlath, Judicael, Kamen, Kieran (a name that I and my identical cousin said we'd name our sons,) Landericus, Liborius (there is a St. Liborius Church in our Diocese,) Machabeo, Mochelloc, Nilus, Ninian, Odo, Onuphrius, Panteleimon, Pius, Quadragesimus, Quintilian (I know many little "Quints,") Rabanus, Remigius, Sair, Swithbert, Tabius (was that Tab Hunter's name?) Tron (for you 80s geeks,) Ulrich (one of my ancestor's names,) Ursicius, Vaat, Vitus (want your son to be a dancer?) Yakim, Yvo, Zebinus, and Zeno (I met a man with that name.)

There, the next time you want to give your son a "different" sounding name, please consider one of these.

Ding, ding, ding... you get the Twinkie.

It's a Scottish clan name and means "son of Kenneth".

In my view family names should not be used as given names unless
the child is connected to the family in question, yet it's done all the time: Scott and Keith,
for example. I imagine that 99+% of the parents who do this have no idea that
they are using someone else's family name.

People seem to have a great partiality for using Scottish
family names. All three above are so. Then consider Graham,
Gordon, Douglas and Bruce. (I can't think of any such names
used for girls).

Edmac

My name is Mary Halloran, my grandfather was a Halloran. Since my family always called me "Halle" this is what I have come to be known as. Since no one has ever called me "Mary" I don't really track to that name, and I prefer people to say my whole name "Mary Halloran" or just call me by my nickname.

Fr David, I really appreciate the way you have named your children, and I wholeheartedly agree with your not using nicknames. Nicknames have made my name very complicated.

Personally I am really antagonized by family and friends who name their children gender inappropriate or unusual names, or names with unexpected spelling. I grew up with a difficult, unusual name, and while I cherish it now, I resented it a lot growing up. I don't approve of calling girls things like "Sidney" or "Mackensie" and I don't approve of calling boys things like "Lie" (LEE - ay , supposedly an Israeli name) But my approval is neither here nor there. I just know how hard it is growing up with a name people find hard to understand or pronounce.

Edmac, just wait, some bright person will dare to name their girl child Graham, Gordon, Douglas or Bruce. I feel bad for them already. Not that I think it should be embarked upon lightly, but thank goodness people CAN legally change their own name as an adult.

OK,

The girl names:
Afra, Aya, Balda (not as pretty as the previous one,) Britta (not that different,) Ceara, Chiara (our youngest daughter's middle name,) Darerca, Dwynwen, Ellyw, Eithne, Fara, Fris, Galla, Gunthildis, Hedwig, Hermione, Ia, Ita, Jacinta, Judda, Kateri (that one is catching on,) Kigwe, Lelia, Lutgarde, Mabyn, Mella, Nera, Notburga, Oda, Osyth (same Feast as my wife's birthday,) Perpetua (my wife's Confirmation Name,) Pia, Quartilla, Quntilla, Rafqa, Regina (not that different,) Sabina, Solange (Beyonce's sister, ) Tarasia, Triphina, Ursula (Bond Girl,) Usa, Valeria, Vibiana, Werburga, Winifred (more common in the past,) Yolanda, Ytha, Zaida, and Zita.

I tried to find pretty names, I wasn't as successful as I'd like to have been.

Hm, well my first name is Samuel, which is obviously Biblical, but I go by my middle name (Garrett), which is my mother's own maiden name. It means "spear-mighty" in Old English, but I think that's been added after the fact since it is assumed the Garretts were originally the Gherardinis from Florence (of which Mona Lisa was a member!), and my very-great ancestor came to England with Willian the Conqueror.

Alexis

Father Bless!

Why was little William given another Baptismal name?

St. William Firmatus died in 1103
St. William of Dijon died in 1031

If it is anything like what I know in the Greek Orthodox church , Basil would have been the name given on the birth and baptismal certificate, but because it did not sound American enough, (although the British like it), the Greek 'Basils' (derived from the Grk. Vasili) became either Bills and Williams in the United States.

Dear Father David,

What beautiful names your children have! How blessed you are to have FOUR girls--for you and for them to have each other too!

As the Greeks say: "Na Zisoun kai na ta deite opos epithimite"...
"May they live, and may you see them become as you desire".


In Christ,
Alice

I was glad to hear two saints named when my son was baptized. Sts Thomas and Nathaniel. =)

It disturbs me too, not just because children don't have Saints names but because they do not have traditional names. What really bothers me is when people apply surnames to proper names or mix up the sexes.

Terry