“Alpha, Omega, I’d like you to meet my friends, Bea and Kay. Oh, yes, and there’s Jay.”
“Have you met Elle? And Auntie Em?”
And a term used for God in the book of Revelation. Rev. 1: 8, 11; 21:6; and 22:13.
It’s pretty clearly a metaphorical way of saying “I am the Beginning and the End”, or “I am Everything from A to Z”. It’s like saying that someone calling their kid “The Source” is naming them after God – to me, it’s a stretch.
I went to school with siblings named Apollo and Artemis (they were Greek, but not twins.)
I’ve known about a million Jesuses, and even more Mary/Marias.
Are we considering saints as demigods, here?
Likewise, in Hebrew. Just about every other male name ends in -el. Yisrael, Natanel, Daniel, etc. All the angelical names end in -el: Michael, Gavriel, Rafael, Uriel, and probably some others I don’t know about.
Then there’s -yahu. No, not the search engine, “May God…”. For some reason it got transliterated into English as “iah”. Isaiah, Jeremiah, and Hezekiah are really Yishayahu, Yirmiyahu, and Chizkiyahu. Their names translate, respectively, as God-will-save, God-will-uplift, and God-will-strengthen.
And the names Joel and Jael have a double dose, since they have both forms (“El” and “Yo” = short form of “Yahweh”). The names seem to be theological declarations, from what I’ve read (“Yahweh is God”)
It’s not a term used for God, it’s just a descriptor indicating the “beginning and the end.” Alpha and Omega are the first and last letters of the Greek alphabet respectively. The phrase is descriptive, not titular. It’s not a name for God.
May I ask what made you consider that name?
It’s a lovely name, and I like it, but it’s not one commonly given to people in Hinduism itself, and so I was just wondering your thoughts on it? As well, has she ever had any comments or such about it, hopefully no ones bothered her for it?
Oops! I also know a lovely young woman named Eris. Not Aeris, Eris.
Her mother named her that in a hope to give her an interesting life.
How does she feel about Golden Delicious apples?
She’s only a year and a half old, so if she has any thoughts about it she hasn’t expressed them.
I studied a lot about Hinduism in college, and I always just aesthetically liked the name Kali. I also liked the badass qualities of the goddess. At that time I decided if I ever had a daughter I would want to name her Kali, and my wife finally let me do it for daughter number three.
There haven’t been too many bad reactions from strangers (except a tendency for them to pronounce it as “Kaylee”) and family has been ok after some initial odd looks when I told them she was named after the Hindu Goddess of destruction. They know my academic background and interests, though, and just take it as a manifestation of that (which it is).
My brother (who posts here as Cricetus) has given her books and other items with cutesy, kid friendly pictures of the goddess he found somewhere. I think he gets a kick out of it.
Yes, I know it means A to Z. But I think just about anyone who hears the term “Alpha and Omega” is going to think it’s a reference to the Biblical God. No, it’s not the same as naming your kid Jehovah, but I don’t think it’s a huge stretch either. But that’s why I said “Does that count?”
Actually, a yael is a mountain goat or ibex. But I guess it could be seen as a (holy) double entendre.
My dog is named Caly (not Kali), but I sometimes call her God. She comes when she hears me calling for her either way.
Exactly. I’d more likely think the names came from the Bible rather than from someone who just happened to know the Greek alphabet. The former informs a lot of names, the latter, not so much.
Though I have met someone named Tau…
Short for Taurus or Tautology.
For that matter, I wonder if there were some Alpha-Jones and Pi-Jones and Rho-Jones families where Catherine came from.
My brother in law is named Thor. Not a nickname. It’s a Norwegian thing.
I myself have been mistaken for God. Had the name screamed at me. But she was a bit confused. Thought God was my last name and that my first name was O.
My Danish great-grandfather was Christ Christensen.
The Anointed One, Son of the Anointed One, if I parse that correctly.
Maybe not strictly God, Son of God, but I still think that’s pretty badass.
I do. I found about his work (Sanjay Patel) because we have the same agent. Here’s his website: http://gheehappy.com/
Not a name, but I knew someone with the initials G.O.D… much better than D.O.G., if you ask me