Name Game (Take Three!)

Yet another round of the name game!

For boys the first name has to be an obscure Bible name, and the middle name has to be the name of a gem.

For girls the first name must be a state and the middle name must be the name of a silent film actress.

My answers: Sopater Malachite and Alabama Lillian.

WINNERS: Absalom Garnet and Alaska Leatrice
2nd Place: Kemuel Jasper and Tennessee Julanne

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Peaches Geldof and Thomas Cohen Welcome a Baby Boy

Peaches and Thomas

Model, journalist, and television presenter Peaches Geldof, daughter of Bob Geldof of the band The Boomtown Rats, and writer and television presenter Paula Yates, has welcomed her first child, a boy named Astala Dylan Willow, with her fiance, Thomas Cohen, who is the lead singer of the band S.C.U.M.

Praxilla

"Praxilla" by John William Godward

Meaning: N/A
Gender: Female
Pronunciation: I think PRA-zil-uh or possibly PRAX-il-uh
Origin: Greek
Other forms of the name: Possibly Priscilla

I really cannot find anything on the name Praxilla, or the pronunciation, so I’m winging this thing. Praxilla of Sicyon was a lyric poet from 5th century Greece. She was very popular in her day and not much of her work survived. She was named one of the nine earthly muses by Antipater of Thessalonica, along with Sappho.

Later on her poetry fell out of favor, many crictized her for mentioning cucumbers along with the sun and moon. In one of her hymns Adonis is asked “What is the most beautiful thing you left behind?” by some of the underworld dwellers, he replies:

“Finest of all the things I have left is the light of the sun,
Next to that the brilliant stars and the face of the moon,
Cucumbers in their season, too, and apples and pears.”

Some people think cucumbers were supposed to be used as a pun to mention her place of birth; in Greek cucumber is “sicyos”. Not much else is known about Praxilla, if anybody has any information on the name, please let me know.

Haruki

Meaning: Mutiple, from “spring child”, to “sun, sunlight” to “radiance or shine”.
Gender: Male
Pronunciation: hah-ROO-kee (I think)
Origin: Japanese
Other forms of the name: N/A

A perfect name for a Spring baby. There are many different kanji used for this name, like most Japanese names, so it doesn’t have just one meaning. Other meanings are “clear up” or “hope/rare”.

Spring is one of my favorite seasons, I was born during Spring, and I love the weather, although it is more like Summer than Spring down here in the south. In Spring the days become longer because the axis of the Earth is starting to tilt towards the Sun. Because of this, the Earth starts to warm, allowing plants to grow. Spring is a time of revival, and new life. There are many Spring festivals, the most famous probably being Easter, which celebrates the birth of Jesus Christ in Christian mythology.

A famous namesake is author Haruki Murakami. He is said to be one of the greatest living novelists. His most recent novel is “1Q84” which came out in 2009.

Blanchefleur

Meaning: “White flower”
Gender: Female
Pronunciation: blawnsh-FLURE
Origin: French
Other forms of the name: Blancheflor, Blanzifore, Blankiflúr

A beautiful and dramatic name, Blanchefleur is one you won’t hear everyday. Blanchefleur is supposedly the name of Tristan’s mother in the legend of Tristan and Isolde and is the name of the lover of Perceval in “Perceval, le Conte du Graal” by Chrétien de Troyes. But probably the most famous Blanchefleur is from the romantic story told throughout the Middle Ages, “Floris and Blanchefleur”.

The story goes something like this:

King Felix of Al-Andalus is on one of his little ventures in Galicia, Spain when he attacks a group of Christian pilgrims on their way to the shrine of Santiago de Compostela. Among them is a French Knight and his recently widowed daughter who has chosen to dedicate her life to the sanctuary. The French Knight is killed but his daughter is spared and is taken to Naples where she is made lady-in-waiting to King Felix’s wife. Well both women are pregnant and both women give birth on Palm Sunday, the Queen to Floris and the Knight’s daughter to Blanchefleur.

Floris (which is a great name also, we need more flowery names for boys!) and Blanchefleur grow up together and grow very close. The King fears that Floris will want to marry her so he decides he must have her killed, but cannot go through with it. He sends Floris to school and sells Blanchefleur to merchants travelling to Cairo where she is then sold to an Emir. King Felix creates a tomb for Blanchefleur and tells Floris that she is dead. Floris reacts so badly that he tells him that he sold her to some merchants. Floris then decides he must find her. He eventually makes it to Cairo and meets the bridge warden Daire who tells him about the maiden tower. Each year the Emir selects a new bride and kills his former bride and rumour tells that Blanchefleur is to be the new bride.

Daire tells Floris that he should play chess with the tower watchman and return all of his winnings to him so that he would be forced to do him the favor of letting him into the tower. All goes according to plan and Floris is snuck into the tower in a flower basket that is mistakenly delivered to Blanchefleur’s friend Claris. Claris plans a marriage between the two but they are discovered by the Emir.

The Emir does not kill them until he he asks a council what to do. The council is so impressed by the willingness of the couple to die for one another that they spare them. Floris is knighted and finally marries Blanchefleur. Claris marries the Emir who promises she will be his last bride, and they inherit a kingdom.

Other versions tell that Blanchefleur is a Christian Princess and Floris (spelled Flores) is a Pagan Prince.

Archer

I’m sorry I haven’t posted in anything in so long! I took a break for a little while.

Meaning: “Bow”
Gender: Male
Pronunciation: AHR-chur
Origin: Old French
Other forms of the name: N/A

The word archer comes from the Old French archier, which came from the Latin arcus which meant “bow”. As a name, it is getting more and more use, ranking #550 in 2010 for the US.

Archery is used for sport today, but in history it has been used as a weapon in warfare and for hunting. After the invention of firearms, the use of bows became almost extinct. In the 18th century archery became a sport for the English gentry, and notably it was a good sport for women, who could still be seen as “feminine” and show off their femininity by playing.  There are many famous archers in mythology, from twins Artemis and Apollo, to Robin Hood. People who hunt using bows are much more skilled than those who hunt using guns. They must get much closer to the prey for it to be a humane kill.

Langston

Langston Hughes

Meaning: “Long stone”
Gender: Male
Pronunciation: LANG-stun
Origin: English
Other forms of the name: Langstone

For Black History Month I thought I would profile the names of some famous and influential African-Americans.

The surname Langston comes from the Old English “lang” which meant “long” and “stan” which meant stone. It has been recorded as far back as the Medieval Ages.

Langston Hughes is probably one of the most famous bearers of this name, although his real name was James Mercer Langston Hughes. He was one of the earliest people to practice jazz poetry. Langston was born in Joplin, Missouri to Caroline “Carrie” Mercer Langston and James Nathaniel Hughes. His father left the family and divorced Carrie, he then travelled to Cuba and Mexico trying to escape the racism in the United States. Langston was raised mostly by his grandmother who told him stories and taught him racial pride.

While in Grammar School Langston was elected class poet. He believed it was because of a stereotype that African-Americans have rhythm:

“I was a victim of a stereotype. There were only two of us Negro kids in the whole class and our English teacher was always stressing the importance of rhythm in poetry. Well, everyone knows, except us, that all Negroes have rhythm, so they elected me as class poet.”

Later in high school Langston wrote his first jazz poetry piece called “When Sue Wears Red”. He did not have a good relationship with his father even though he lived with him for a while in Mexico. He said “I had been thinking about my father and his strange dislike of his own people. I didn’t understand it, because I was a Negro, and I liked Negroes very much.”

He died when he was only sixty-five from abdominal surgery. His ashes are interred beneath a floor medallion in The Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. The design of the medallion is an African cosmogram that is titled “Rivers”; the title is taken from one of his poems, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”, which became his signature poem. In the center of the medallion, above his ashes, it reads, “My soul has grown deep like the rivers”.

Langston strove throughout his career to teach “black is beautiful” and to make people proud of their race.

Here is his poem, “The Negro Speaks of Rivers”:

“I’ve known rivers:
I’ve known rivers ancient as the world and older than the flow of human blood in human veins.

 My soul has grown deep like the rivers.

I bathed in the Euphrates when dawns were young. I built my hut near the Congo and it lulled me to sleep.

I looked upon the Nile and raised the pyramids above it.
I heard the singing of the Mississippi when Abe Lincoln went down to New Orleans, and I’ve seen its muddy bosom turn all golden in the sunset.

I’ve known rivers:
Ancient, dusky rivers.

 My soul has grown deep like the rivers.”

Padmini

Padmini in Bhai Bahen

Meaning: “Full of lotuses”
Gender: Female
Pronunciation: PAD-mee-nee
Origin: Indian and Sanskrit
Other forms of the name: N/A

Padmini is a beautiful name isn’t it? It has been used by many famous Indian women including the actress and Bharathanatyam dancer known just as Padmini, pictured above, and Padmini Kolhapure who was a famous Indian actress and dancer who appeared in Bollywood movies in the 70s and 80s. There was also Rani Padmini who was queen of Chittor and was featured in the poem “Padmavat” by Malik Muhammad.

The Padmini in the picture became famous when she starred in the film “Kalpana” in 1948 at the age of sixteen. Her sister Lalitha and Ragini were also well-known actresses and together they were known as the Travancore Sisters. She acted in movies for nearly thirty years and died in 2006 at the age of seventy-four.

The lotus flower is extremely important to the East. It is a sign of rebirth, beauty, and sensuality among other things. The Kamashastra has four catergories of women, the most beautiful and talented is called Padmini or the Lotus Lady. The God Vishnu and the Goddess Lakshmi are oftened depicted standing on a pink lotus. The lotus root is edible and is often boiled and used in many Asian meals. The Chinese scholar wrote “I love the lotus because while growing from mud, it is unstained.”

 

Valentine

Meaning: “Strong, vigourous, healthy”
Gender: Unisex
Pronunciation: VAL-ehn-tien
Origin: Latin
Other forms of the name: Valentinus, Valentin, Valentino, Valent, Valentina (girl), Folant

Happy St. Valentine’s!

Valentine comes from the Roman family name, Valentinus, which comes from the Latin valent. Valentine’s is a holiday celebrating a few different Christian Saints. It was first associated with romance in the middle ages by Geoffrey Chaucer and friends; Geoffrey wrote in his poem “Parlement of Foules”:

“For this was on seynt Volantynys day
Whan euery bryd comyth there to chese his make.”

[“For this was Saint Valentine’s Day, when every bird cometh there to choose his mate.”]

Later on it became a day in which lovers would confess their feelings for eachother and give flowers, cards, and sweets. The little poem we know today goes like this:

“The rose is red, the violet’s blue,
The honey’s sweet, and so are you.
Thou art my love and I am thine;
I drew thee to my Valentine:
The lot was cast and then I drew,
And Fortune said it shou’d be you.”

The whole “roses are red, violets are blue” bit goes all the way back to Edmund Spenser’s “The Faerie Queene”:

“She bath’d with roses red, and violets blew,
And all the sweetest flowres, that in the forrest grew.”

Name Game (Take Two!)

I was very surprised at the amount of replies I got to the last game and enjoyed reading all of the responses greatly. Since it did considerably well I thought to continue doing the name games.

For boys the first name must be a name that is more commonly used for girls, like Ruby or Ariel, and the middle name has to be from an animated film.

For girls the first name has to be something commonly used in perfumes or essential oils, like Orange, Cinnamon, or Lavender, and the middle name must be the name of a famous Queen or Empress, real or legendary.

My answers: Juniper Haku and Vanilla Jitō.

WINNERS: Bergamot Poppaea and Avalon Dash
2nd Place: Magnolia Antoinette and Greer Cogsworth