By NeitherHrotsvitNorErkembaldus - 29/07/2016 21:21 - Canada - Toronto

Today, I learned that the hardest part of marrying a historian is choosing baby names. His top choices derive from two Roman magistrates, two abbesses, a tenth-century author, and an obscure Greek official. I already let him name our pug, for whom he chose the name "Tertullianus." FML
I agree, your life sucks 14 619
You deserved it 1 486

Same thing different taste

Top comments

Far out baby names, might wanna dial it down about 50% and come up with a something more acceptable and serious, like Tiberius

Comments

I know someone who has a nephew named Octavius. And his sister is Octavia. Maybe see if you can have more control over the first name and him the middle name?

Brook Taylor is a mathematician with normal first and last names

Your husband sounds awesome! I love old Roman and Greek names.

Maybe go with something you could shorten? Or something still kind of modern, like Julius/Julian (Caesar) or Marc (Antony)?

I read Marc Antony as the singer and then wondered who this new musician Julian Caesar was.

cootiequeen4444 11

Caesar wasn't his (julius') name. Caesar means king. similar to kaiser in Germany (actually Caesar is pronounced like kaiser) and tsar/czar in russia.

Kaiser and tzar aren't even pronounced similarly, so how could Caesar be pronounced like the both of them?

For a girl, try something like Alexandria, after the library. It may be a good compromise. For a boy, Alexander (the Great), Thomas (like Aquinas or Jefferson), Caesar (you could also spell it Cesar), or other things like that might be more main stream, but still very much historical.

Caesar is mainstream? I could see a name like Julian being for Caesar.

Technically Alexandria is the the feminine form of Alexander and was the name of the Egyptian city in which housed the infamous library which in turn was named after the Macedonian King and General Alexander the Great. But I agree with your point, as a historian myself I try to find ancient names with a modern twist so as to be more mainstream. I want to name a child Alexandria/Alexander myself. And I have half a dozen other names in mind. I already name all my appliances after Greek/Roman gods. Pets will be next. The ancients had great names.

Maybe you could provide some recommendations between ancient and modern names. Because you seem to get the balance of giving historical names without scarring your child for a lifetime.

Sounds like you may need to remind hubby that you will be raising a child together, not a potential punching bag.

Sorry OP! It's a rough game. Hopefully you still have several months to come to an agreement. My husband was a teacher, so my suggestions were met with "oh, no way....that kid was awful", and similar remarks. Finally settled on Sebastian and Dexter.

So one of your children has crabs and the other is a serial killer and/or mad scientist?

Dexter was actually supposed to be Dexter Morgan, but we changed the middle name about 3 weeks before he was born because we heard of that show. I freaked, thanks hormones. kinda wish we'd kept it now. Would be a fun story. And Sebastian doesn't HAVE crabs. He IS a crab. lol. The name was chosen early in my pregnancy and my grandmother informed me his due date was near Saint Sebastian's Feast day (I know nothing of it). I asked my doctor if he would induce me early for that day. He REFUSED (too early), but lil Sebastian showed him. I went into labor January 19th, and he came the 20th- The feast day. Spent about a week in NICU because he was eatly, but cool story.

That's pretty cool that both of your children have stories about their names.

Maybe you can let him choose the middle name on his own? But find a reasonable compromise for the first name?

crazyindynathan 13

Just agree to something that has potential for a normal nickname :)

As a historian myself I plan on naming future children and pets Ancient names but I try to find ancient names with a modern twist so as to be more mainstream. I want to name a child Alexandria/Alexander, I also love Kleio and Selene, as well as Polyphemus and Kerberos for dog/one eyed animal's name, and I also love Henry and Edward. I have a half dozen other names in mind. I already name most my appliances after Greek/Roman gods, my external is Zeus, my laptop is Mnemosyne, and my USB is Hermes and the old one was Kharon. While I agree with your husband's idea, as the ancients did have some great names, you just have to come up with a compromise. Good luck OP!

My dogs are named Ajax and Giotto (the Medieval/Renaissance artist I wrote my thesis on). My husband and I really want Spartacus or Boru (Brian Boru) for our future dogs. While researching my thesis I actually found a blog from a woman who had named her son's Dante and Giotto. Our kids have much more mainstream names. They still have lots of meaning but aren't so out there.

Alex is an actually a common nickname for both boys and girls so Alexander or Alexandria would be a good name.