Our Children's Names

When we moved to Hawaii in 1978, six-year-old Marc stood up in Primary and introduced his siblings as, “My two sisters are named after goddesses, and my oldest brother is named after Shakespeare.”

Ed and I named most of our children original names. In fact recently on a Facebook application that rated how original your name was, Athena’s name rated an A- for originality based on the year she was born. And yes, I named my daughters after Roman and Greek goddesses as I wanted them to know they were daughters of god. I really liked the name Athena, that of the Greek goddess of wisdom, war, the arts, industry, justice and skill. I felt that the daughter I named that would be wise, industrious, skilled and a leader. (I ignored the war part.) Athena’s middle name is “Lee” just to make her name more euphonious.

Marlowe, our oldest, we named after Christopher Marlowe, “English dramatist, poet and translator of the Elizabethan era. The foremost Elizabethan tragedian next to William Shakespeare.” Also, many claim, the real author of the works attributed to Shakespeare. I’m not saying I believe that, but I was intrigued by the idea, and I liked the name—again it was a unique name. Marlowe’s middle name is James, after a famous early Dayley ancestor.
I’m sorry to say that not long after Marlowe was born, Marlo Thomas became the star of “That Girl” a famous TV show that made “Marlo” a popular girl’s name and for years Marlowe had to fight that battle. Now, no one remembers Marlo Thomas and the name has lost its feminine connotation.

Our third child’s name, Marc, is a common name, but we spelled it with a “c” on the end, rather than the more common, MARK. We liked the name and thought he was just a Marc so we named him that, (it is a common family name on both sides of the family), but I joked he was named after Marcus Aurelius, a Roman emperor, and philosopher who wrote the “Meditations.” Marc’s middle name is Edward after his father, and he is most physically like Ed.

Diana is a common name, but Wikepedia says “Diana is a feminine given name probably derived from an Indo-European root word referring to the divine. It is the name of the Roman goddess Diana, the goddess of the moon, the hunt, forests, and childbirth.” To me it is an elegant name. Diana’s middle name is “Lyn” with only one “n.” I felt that the “Lyn” part would make her name more unique! (Again, the short syllable “Lyn” between a three-syllable first name and two-syllable last name sounds better than a multi-syllabic middle name.)There is no other deep meaning to her name except—maybe all Dianas are special—like Princess Diana!

When Bryan was born we were living in Italy and although we knew his two names would be Bryan and Michael, we couldn’t decide whether to name him Michael Bryan or Bryan Michael or some variation of the two. The original Brian was an Irish King—Brian Boru, who thwarted Viking efforts to conquer Ireland in the 11th century and I knew that this new spirit was a Brian—a leader. I also knew he was a Michael also.

Finally we decided to use the Italian variation of Michael of his name because he was born in Italy, however, the correct Italian spelling is “Michelle,” (Me-shell) though pronounced “Me-Ka-lay.” I could not in good conscience name a boy MICHELLE so we compromised spelling it MIKELE which is pronounced “Me-ka-lay.” But we still didn’t know which would be his first name and which his second.
The day he was born he was so red-faced, so roly-poly, so hair so reddish-blonde, so Irish-looking that we knew he was a “Bryan” (spelled with a “y” rather than an “I” to be different). So his middle name became Mikele, which has really been better since its spelling is so unusual and different. (At least “Marlowe” and “Athena” were not difficult to misspell).

You might note that only one of our five children was named after an immediate family member—Marc who has Ed’s name as his middle name. Although I have my mother’s first name to live up to, and Ed carries his uncle’s first name, other than Marc, those names are not carried on. That is OK.

Shakespeare (or Christopher Marlowe) said it well: "What's in a name? That which we call a rose / By any other name would smell as sweet."

Would I be different if I were called “Alice?” Very few people call me by my first name, “Mary;” would I be the same person if I were called Mary instead of Beth? Would Athena be as strong willed if she were named Sue? Would Bryan change if he went by his middle name, Mikele? Movie stars routinely change their names; does that change them inherently?

Who knows? Not I! Why do we name our children the names we do? I’ve explained the reasons I named my children why I did so. Why did you?