# Are Any Boys Named After Flowers? **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [April 17, 2009, 10:04am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397 "2009-04-17T10:04:33Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/4491bb/32.png) [@I\_Have\_Hippos\_In\_My\_Garden](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/I_Have_Hippos_In_My_Garden)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 6:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/21 "2009-04-17T18:19:08Z")
Its not a plant exactly but I know a **Wood** ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/22 "2009-04-17T18:41:22Z")
> [@matt\_mcl](#): > > There was a film some time ago called _The Hanging Garden_, in which all the characters are named for flowers. The male lead was named [Sweet William](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_William). Sweet William is another name for Vinca. I have it growing in my yard. ---
**Author:** ![Sigmagirl](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c89c15/32.png) [@Sigmagirl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sigmagirl)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 6:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/23 "2009-04-17T18:44:29Z")
In one of Betty Smith’s books (is it \*A Tree Grows in Brooklyn \*or _Maggie-Now_? I think the latter) there is a family that has a number of daughters and one son; the daughters are all named after flowers – Violet, Rose, etc., and the son is named Chrysanthemum. They call him Chris. He suffers no end of teasing. ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 6:47pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/24 "2009-04-17T18:47:33Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > Sweet William is another name for Vinca. I have it growing in my yard. Sweet William is usually _Dianthus barbatus_, a pink that bears its flowers in [groups](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_William). I’ve never heard it applied to Vinca. ---
**Author:** ![Billdo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/billdo/32/315_2.png) [@Billdo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Billdo)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 7:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/25 "2009-04-17T19:34:29Z")
How about [Sage]([Common - Wikipedia](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Common) Sage), both a flowering herb and a male [first name](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sage_(name)). ---
**Author:** ![Kalhoun](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/3bc359/32.png) [@Kalhoun](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kalhoun)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 7:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/26 "2009-04-17T19:46:41Z")
> [@jayjay](#): > > Sweet William is usually _Dianthus barbatus_, a pink that bears its flowers in [groups](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sweet_William). I’ve never heard it applied to Vinca. I’m just going by the name on the little pot I purchased it in. (Those dianthus are gawgeous.) I have another ground cover that was sold to me as “White Nancy” but my friends all call it dead nettle. I hate that name! ---
**Author:** ![CalMeacham](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/calmeacham/32/35_2.png) [@CalMeacham](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CalMeacham)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 8:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/27 "2009-04-17T20:13:24Z")
I can’t find it right now in the book, but the OP reminds me of an exchange in Sharyn mcCrumb’s excellent **Bimbos of the Death Sun** that goes something like this: Girls: Our names are Rosemany and Marjoram. What’s yours? Guy: Herb. ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 8:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/28 "2009-04-17T20:41:40Z")
> [@Aspidistra](#): > > I’m not sure if the smiley after Hyacinth is a recognition of this, but it originally was, in fact, [a boy’s name](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyacinth_(mythology)) My immediate thought upon reading the thread. My father’s nickname is “Jacek” (pron. JAH-tsehk) in Polish, which translates as Hyacinth. In fact, there is a St. Hyacinth Church, which is how I first realized that Hyacinth is Jacek (the Polish called the church “Święty Jacek.”) ---
**Author:** ![pulykamell](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/pulykamell/32/3166_2.png) [@pulykamell](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/pulykamell)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 8:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/29 "2009-04-17T20:42:40Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Isn’t the Spanish name “Jacinto” the equivalent of Hyacinth? Yes. ---
**Author:** ![Jackmannii](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jackmannii/32/311_2.png) [@Jackmannii](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Jackmannii)\ **Post date:** [April 17, 2009, 11:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/30 "2009-04-17T23:44:11Z")
> [@Kalhoun](#): > > I have another ground cover that was sold to me as “White Nancy” but my friends all call it dead nettle. I hate that name! Yeah, it’s pretty Lamium. ---
**Author:** ![SciFiSam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/47e85d/32.png) [@SciFiSam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/SciFiSam)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 1:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/31 "2009-04-18T01:33:06Z")
If you go into the wider plant kingdom, there’s: Heath Thorn Holly (unisex) or Hollis Rowan Leaf (as someone else said above) Forest Reed As well as other even less common names - Cedric comes from Cedar. Interesting that Hyacinth has common boys’ name version in other languages but is definitely feminine these days in English. Japanese, Chinese, Sikh and Hindu names are often unisex, so boys can be named after flowers as well as girls. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 1:41am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/32 "2009-04-18T01:41:15Z")
All the Plantagenets were named after a flower. ---
**Author:** ![Linty\_Fresh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c5a1d2/32.png) [@Linty\_Fresh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Linty_Fresh)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 1:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/33 "2009-04-18T01:42:40Z")
> [@Dinsdale](#): > > Orlando Bloom? 😛 Pete Rose? ---
**Author:** ![echowit](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/59ef9b/32.png) [@echowit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/echowit)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 2:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/34 "2009-04-18T02:18:15Z")
Larry, Lawrence, or Laurance. I believe all are from Laurel. ---
**Author:** ![Scissorjack](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/c67d28/32.png) [@Scissorjack](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Scissorjack)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 2:42am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/35 "2009-04-18T02:42:17Z")
Robert Plant ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 2:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/36 "2009-04-18T02:47:07Z")
It really does seem that our, at least, our Anglo-Franco forebears didn’t name the baby boys after the alluring parts of plants. Rather, it was all about the big manly trees, or places where they grew. A sampling: Ashford, Ashe, Ashleigh, Ashby, Ashton— Ash Acton, Chaney- Oak Berkeley, Barclay-Birch Eldridge—Alder Ewan,York—Yew Frasier-- strawberry, and then ya have Berry, too Hollis and Heath, for their plants Laurence, Laurie, Lars, Lorenzo, Lonnie----Laurel Lyndon—Linden Oliver—um, yep, Olive And, a whole heapin’ helping of guys who hailed from in or around The Woods: Bruce,Guy(Guido),Silas, Shelley,Sylvester, Woodward/Woody, to name a few. One instance of a male flower name in was in Hindu culture, where names that meant lotus are appreciated: Arvinda, Kairav, Rajeer, and Pankaj. The lotus flower also has a high symbolic meaning as rising from the muck of it’s roots and flowering in exquisite symmetry, as a mind might with spiritual awareness. So, not just the flower, but powerful meaning. Sad to see that not many men are given flower names, but, in botany, almost all flowers are scientifically named after men, with a tradition of honorifics. Weird ol’ world. ---
**Author:** ![elelle](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/f0a364/32.png) [@elelle](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/elelle)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 3:00am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/37 "2009-04-18T03:00:52Z")
Oh, and , Jackmanii, I saw what ya did there with lamium and hibiscus. Heh hee, nice. ---
**Author:** ![Tom\_Tildrum](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/e95f7d/32.png) [@Tom\_Tildrum](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Tom_Tildrum)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 3:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/38 "2009-04-18T03:54:25Z")
Alfalfa Rosey Grier Stephen Root Wayland Flowers ---
**Author:** ![chowder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/977dab/32.png) [@chowder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/chowder)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 7:09am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/39 "2009-04-18T07:09:01Z")
Holly Ivy ---
**Author:** ![jayjay](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/jayjay/32/6765_2.png) [@jayjay](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/jayjay)\ **Post date:** [April 18, 2009, 3:09pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397/40 "2009-04-18T15:09:30Z")
> [@Tom\_Tildrum](#): > > Rosey Grier Rosey is short for Roosevelt…no flowers. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/are-any-boys-named-after-flowers/493397.md?page=3)