# Fantasy/pagan-style personal names in real life **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [February 24, 2015, 1:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508 "2015-02-24T13:19:41Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 18\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 11:19pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/21 "2015-02-24T23:19:39Z")
Irish pagan names have been getting very popular in recent memory, and NO just among the Irish or Irish-Americans. Aidan was the Irish god of fire, and there are Aidans all over the place now. It got so popular than everyone was coming up with variations (Jaden, Kaden, whatever). ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 11:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/22 "2015-02-24T23:28:43Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Irish pagan names have been getting very popular in recent memory, and NO just among the Irish or Irish-Americans. > > Aidan was the Irish god of fire, and there are Aidans all over the place now. It got so popular than everyone was coming up with variations (Jaden, Kaden, whatever). Also Brigit and Bridgit has never really gone out of style, though probably more often named for the Catholic Saint that was named for the Celtic Goddess than the Goddess herself. I have met a Galadriel and there is at least [one actress with the name](http://www.imdb.com/name/nm3004687/). Both predate the movies so were most likely inspired directly by the books. I have more recently seen [Arwen popping up though still far from common](http://www.babycenter.com/baby-names-arwen-13735.htm). ---
**Author:** ![Maastricht](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a88e57/32.png) [@Maastricht](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Maastricht)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 11:29pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/23 "2015-02-24T23:29:17Z")
The middle name being the father’s or mothers name sounds fairly exotic. IIRC it is normal in modern Iceland to be named Firstname Parentsfirstnamedottir (= daughter) Lastname. Up untill the 17 th century that was common in the Netherlands too. The painters name was Rembrandt Harmenszoon ( Son of Herman) van Rijn. ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 11:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/24 "2015-02-24T23:35:20Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Aidan was the Irish god of fire That is not correct. There is no Irish god of fire attested. The element \*Aid-\*does mean “fire” (Old Irish _áed_), and -_án_ is a common Irish diminutive suffix. The name probably refers to a kid born with fiery (=red) hair. It’s true that the _-án_ has been re-analyzed as _-dan / -den_ by analogy with this & other names, though it’s lost its diminutive sense. ---
**Author:** ![buddha\_david](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/ee7513/32.png) [@buddha\_david](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/buddha_david)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 11:42pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/25 "2015-02-24T23:42:12Z")
**Esmeralda:** What is your name? **Bruce Willis:** Butch. **Esmeralda:** What does it mean? **Bruce Willis:** I’m American, honey. Our names don’t mean shit. But… but… your name is “Butch”! ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 24, 2015, 11:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/26 "2015-02-24T23:48:45Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > Weren’t there cultures in UK and American history where they took the whole naming after virtues thing (Patience, Hope, Chastity, etc) to extreme lengths with whole phrases? Blessed Unto The Lord Cotton, Obedient To Scripture Mather, that sort of thing? You’re probably thinking about the Father of Insurance, the English economist Nicholas Barbon, who’s full name was Nicholas Unless-Jesus-Christ-Had-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barbon. ---
**Author:** ![Flyer](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/flyer/32/7298_2.png) [@Flyer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Flyer)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 12:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/27 "2015-02-25T00:03:01Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > Weren’t there cultures in UK and American history where they took the whole naming after virtues thing (Patience, Hope, Chastity, etc) to extreme lengths with whole phrases? Blessed Unto The Lord Cotton, Obedient To Scripture Mather, that sort of thing? > [@Captain\_Amazing](#): > > You’re probably thinking about the Father of Insurance, the English economist Nicholas Barbon, who’s full name was Nicholas Unless-Jesus-Christ-Had-Died-For-Thee-Thou-Hadst-Been-Damned Barbon. And. . . . A trifling search reveals the fact that Nicholas Barbon was from a Puritan family, which is what **Noel Prosequi** was thinking of. I don’t think I’ve seen somebody come so close to answering a question, and yet miss it so completely. ---
**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 12:20am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/28 "2015-02-25T00:20:31Z")
How about “Visit-the-infidels-with-pamphlets”? And I have a cousin named “Odin” and went to school with an “Arwen”. ---
**Author:** ![amanset](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/8dc957/32.png) [@amanset](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/amanset)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 12:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/29 "2015-02-25T00:21:31Z")
> [@Maastricht](#): > > The middle name being the father’s or mothers name sounds fairly exotic. IIRC it is normal in modern Iceland to be named Firstname Parentsfirstnamedottir (= daughter) Lastname. Up untill the 17 th century that was common in the Netherlands too. The painters name was Rembrandt Harmenszoon ( Son of Herman) van Rijn. Nope. In modern Iceland it is the same as old Iceland, they use the principle that you used for the middle name there for their last names. They always do seem to have three names though, weirdly enough, but the middle name is a normal, everyday name. I used to date an Icelander and have a weird amount of Icelandic friends. I seem to be collecting them like Pokémon. ---
**Author:** ![even\_sven](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/dfb087/32.png) [@even\_sven](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/even_sven)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 2:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/30 "2015-02-25T02:21:33Z")
Chinese names often have literal meanings. Sometimes they are quite poetic. I have a friend, for example, named something along the lines of “Heavenly Voice.” But many families prefer very unique names, aren’t aiming for grandioisity, or are backed in to a corner by the tradition of assigning the same syllable/word to child in a set of siblings. I had a friend named “10,000 books” and one named “Small Square.” ---
**Author:** ![LSLGuy](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/lslguy/32/5813_2.png) [@LSLGuy](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/LSLGuy)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 2:53am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/31 "2015-02-25T02:53:44Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > Well, there are many cultures in which it’s still pretty common to find people with the name of a pagan god. Nobody in Scandanavia would bat an eyelash if they met a guy named, say, Thor Stefansson. This guy’s name is Ocean God. [http://hafthor.net/](http://hafthor.net/) He used to be my immediate deputy. No, seriously. Yeah, the website is antique. He used to have a blog & such there too but has since moved on in cyberspace to all the snazzy techno-social things and left this behind as a cairn. He’s a real neat guy as well as one hell of a developer. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 3:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/32 "2015-02-25T03:13:00Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > And. . . . > > A trifling search reveals the fact that Nicholas Barbon was from a Puritan family, which is what **Noel Prosequi** was thinking of. > > I don’t think I’ve seen somebody come so close to answering a question, and yet miss it so completely. Thanks for that. It was obviously a Christian cult, but I had no idea which of the many. Here’s a link to some more howlers. Hard to beat “Through-Much-Tribulation-We-Enter-The-Kingdom-Of-Heaven”, known to her friends as Tribby. > **[technically, all bags are bags of holding.](https://themyskira.tumblr.com/post/27965982570/awesome-puritan-names)** > > Awesome Puritan names A while ago, for fun, I started doing some reading on some of the stranger naming choices made by the Puritans between the seventeenth and nineteenth centuries. (Yes, for fun. I... ---
**Author:** ![WhyNot](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/c77e96/32.png) [@WhyNot](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WhyNot)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/33 "2015-02-25T03:31:20Z")
> [@Dr.Drake](#): > > Also, for African-American culture anyway, the “LaShawnDa” variety is often formed on a pattern of combining parts of two different existing names, so while it’s unique and created, it’s not completely constructed out of whole cloth. Some of them \*are \*completely constructed out of whole cloth. I was recently present for a discussion about the topic among a group of Black women. One of their friends (not present) was known as the best baby-name-maker-upper, and they all consulted with her when working to create their babies’ names. I asked about the “combining parent’s names” thing and they all made a sour face and said that was kind of a fad in the 90s, but not really the done thing anymore. I’m not certain if they meant among their social group or as a larger subculture rule. ---
**Author:** ![Senegoid](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/senegoid/32/6606_2.png) [@Senegoid](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Senegoid)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 6:03am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/34 "2015-02-25T06:03:45Z")
More catalogs of Puritan names. (These various lists mostly list the same names as one another, several of them already mentioned in posts up-thread.) > **[A Boy Named "Humiliation": Some Wacky, Cruel, and Bizarre Puritan Names](https://slate.com/human-interest/2013/09/puritan-names-lists-of-bizarre-religious-nomenclature-used-by-puritans.html)** > > Puritanism has its roots in the late sixteenth century, after Henry VIII broke ties with the Catholic Church. The Puritans believed that reforms had... [http://www.namenerds.com/uucn/listofweek/puritan.html](http://www.namenerds.com/uucn/listofweek/puritan.html) > **[Puritans and their weird names](https://historyofnothing.wordpress.com/2013/09/05/puritans-and-their-weird-names/)** > > I am a Puritan fan. How could you not be? We’re talking about a bunch of people who, in the days when the future of Protestantism was insecure in Britain, got into trouble for saying that Bri… **Lemur866** mentions, above, several Hebrew names from the Old Testament that are common today. There are many of these. Two more: Nathaniel (= Natan, “has given”, + el, “God”, meaning God Has Given ) ; Jonathan ( \< Yohanatan = Yoha, one combining form of Yahweh + Natan ). It was popular in OT times to give names that glorified God. ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 11:15am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/35 "2015-02-25T11:15:25Z")
> [@Flyer](#): > > And. . . . > > A trifling search reveals the fact that Nicholas Barbon was from a Puritan family, which is what **Noel Prosequi** was thinking of… And…I was confirming what he said and giving an example. ---
**Author:** ![Steken](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/e274bd/32.png) [@Steken](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Steken)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 12:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/36 "2015-02-25T12:28:54Z")
> [@amanset](#): > > I work with a guy called Torbjörn. That literally means ‘Thor Bear’. It may be the manliest name on Earth, with the possible challenger being Iceland’s Vikingur. I have a weakness for the Norwegian name Bjørnstjerne, meaning “bear star.” A famous Norwegian writer was named Bjørnstjerne Bjørnson, i.e. “bear star, son of bear.” ---
**Author:** ![Dr.Drake](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/ad7895/32.png) [@Dr.Drake](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dr.Drake)\ **Post date:** [February 25, 2015, 2:58pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/37 "2015-02-25T14:58:31Z")
> [@WhyNot](#): > > I asked about the “combining parent’s names” thing and they all made a sour face and said that was kind of a fad in the 90s, but not really the done thing anymore. I’m not certain if they meant among their social group or as a larger subculture rule. [Jstor Article](http://www.jstor.org/stable/455774) suggests that in the Victorian era, both Blacks and Southern Whites has similar unique naming patterns, but two things happened over time: (1) outside the South, this was perceived as a Black thing, and eventually inside the South as well; and (2) the percentage of people giving their children unique names (by which the article includes combined names and creative misspellings) rose faster in the Black community. I know my own family had its share of these in the 1910s and 1920s. They were white Canadians, but about every other kid got a bizarre, made-up or semi-made-up name. ---
**Author:** ![Infovore](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/infovore/32/420_2.png) [@Infovore](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Infovore)\ **Post date:** [February 26, 2015, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508/38 "2015-02-26T01:30:24Z")
When I was fresh out of college, I worked for the local newspaper for a while while waiting for the soon-to-be spousal unit to graduate. The top boss’s wife’s name was Galadriel. This was in the late '80s, and she was probably in her late 40s/early 50s at the time, so it wasn’t a trendy baby name (unless she changed it herself, which I suppose was possible.) I thought it was a cool name, being an LOTR fan and all. 🙂 [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/fantasy-pagan-style-personal-names-in-real-life/713508.md?page=1)