The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Justinian renamed Antioch Theopolis (Greek for God City, obviously). Wikipedia doesn’t list any person with that name; there might have been many, but none became historically significant. But we might have guessed that Theo was short for some longer name, because no one sane would name their kid just “God”.
OTOH, Herodotus was a famous historian in the ancient world. I struggled trying to find a translation from the Greek with Google Translate. Part of the problem is that there are multiple ways of rendering the first half into the Greek alphabet, which I can’t read, so there are several possible words. The translation that makes the most sense to me is “Heroic Giver”.
I’m only weighing in to say that “Theo” is a perfectly legitimate name all on its own. If it is the shortened version of a name, it is generally short for Theodore.
Parents might think they are being clever when they give their kids names like those but most times it ends up being a mistake because other kids can be cruel.
I don’t know. Knew a kid in high school whose mom was really Hippie and wanted to name him “Moonturtle” or something- his dad put his foot down and they compromised on a normal first name and the name “Turtle” for the middle name.
Yeah but if you give the weird name as the middle name, the kid has a CHOICE. That’s crucial.
If you make their middle name weird and they don’t like it, they can hide it, for the most part.
If you make their given name weird and they don’t like it, well too bad, it winds up on all the official paperwork, it’s the name they call out during role call, it’s the thing they need to write on all the forms, etc.
Giving a truly weird first name is indeed cruel. Unusual is fine. Slightly odd spelling is fine. Different cultural name is fine, so long as it’s not a bad word in the language of the culture the kid will grow up in (there’s a character in Ronin Warriors whose Japanese name is “Nasti”).
But give them a name they won’t feel the need to run away from, like seriously. They can always go weirder — it’s much harder to dial it back once it’d been attached to you in public. And I say this as a person with a slightly unusual name who’s spent her lifetime correcting people on both spelling and pronunciation. It’s amusing by now, and I do love my name (and it’s not all that weird), but a reason I counsel people against saddling their kids with such a burden.
Now that he’s dead, Herodotus is history.
You’re why we can’t have nice things.
No no no. Historia is his daughter’s name.
Take my angry upvote
Wait… Does this mean Theo was raised Greek? That could explain some things….
Hmmm, markm is right.
One day, the great and potentially terrible super-scientist Selkie will be proud to have such dramatic names for her family history.
God City? Grandpa’s name is God City?
The new Emperor of Sarnoth is going to be so jealous he didn’t think of that himself when he finds out.
The Eastern Roman (Byzantine) Emperor Justinian renamed Antioch Theopolis (Greek for God City, obviously). Wikipedia doesn’t list any person with that name; there might have been many, but none became historically significant. But we might have guessed that Theo was short for some longer name, because no one sane would name their kid just “God”.
OTOH, Herodotus was a famous historian in the ancient world. I struggled trying to find a translation from the Greek with Google Translate. Part of the problem is that there are multiple ways of rendering the first half into the Greek alphabet, which I can’t read, so there are several possible words. The translation that makes the most sense to me is “Heroic Giver”.
because no one sane would name their kid just “God”.
So you never I heard of any of the central / South American or Caribbean kids named Jesus?
I’ve heard of them, but I cannot verify their sanity.
I’m only weighing in to say that “Theo” is a perfectly legitimate name all on its own. If it is the shortened version of a name, it is generally short for Theodore.
Imagine they named him Augeas and he had a cattle farm.
The EPA might disapprove of how you cleaned the cattle barn.
Parents might think they are being clever when they give their kids names like those but most times it ends up being a mistake because other kids can be cruel.
I don’t know. Knew a kid in high school whose mom was really Hippie and wanted to name him “Moonturtle” or something- his dad put his foot down and they compromised on a normal first name and the name “Turtle” for the middle name.
Guess which one the guy goes by?
Yeah but if you give the weird name as the middle name, the kid has a CHOICE. That’s crucial.
If you make their middle name weird and they don’t like it, they can hide it, for the most part.
If you make their given name weird and they don’t like it, well too bad, it winds up on all the official paperwork, it’s the name they call out during role call, it’s the thing they need to write on all the forms, etc.
Giving a truly weird first name is indeed cruel. Unusual is fine. Slightly odd spelling is fine. Different cultural name is fine, so long as it’s not a bad word in the language of the culture the kid will grow up in (there’s a character in Ronin Warriors whose Japanese name is “Nasti”).
But give them a name they won’t feel the need to run away from, like seriously. They can always go weirder — it’s much harder to dial it back once it’d been attached to you in public. And I say this as a person with a slightly unusual name who’s spent her lifetime correcting people on both spelling and pronunciation. It’s amusing by now, and I do love my name (and it’s not all that weird), but a reason I counsel people against saddling their kids with such a burden.
“Names are weird.” says the girl named Selkie.
Or possibly Nei Li.
I wonder what their sister is called.
Rachel.
Mary.
“What? That’s the same joke twice.”
I had a family member who everyone called Nibs. His actual name was Isidore Aloysius