"Clopstock!"

Heh heh heh.
:cool:

Oh, congratulations morm!

I agree with the others that you should keep pursuing Rian. I don't see why your wife wouldn't go for it...it's a quite pretty name. Hmm...actually I know someone named Rian. She was (briefly) one of our Residence Life Advisors while I was studying abroad in the Netherlands. I wonder if her parents were influence by Tolkien. :p

But if not Rian, the I think Arien would be perfectly fine as well...I've always been fond of that name.

How about Meredith and then she can be Merry? That would be rather nice in many ways ;) You can also spell that in the traditional Welsh way and have it as Meredydd if you like. And it goes with Sidney as it's also a boy's name - in fact I think Meredith originally was exclusively a boys' name?

Heck, why not Lobelia?
There's also Morwen, Nienor, Niniel, Dora, and Angelica.

Bump...
 

Just thought I'd give the thread a little bump and ask a new question -
can anybody think of M-E names that would make good middle names (both for boys and girls)? With a middle name, sounding normal isn't quite so important (although, of course, it still should be pleasant and pronouncable), but, I think, a good story connected with the character, or a good meaning for the name, is. Any thoughts?

So often though the stories and names don't coincide. Idril is (to my mind) quite the most admirable, interesting and characterful herione in Tolkien but the name unless pronounced "correctly" sounds a bit too much like a medication.

I suppose the best for character and sound is Melian which has the advantage of being relatively similar to "normal" girls names and has the meaning "dear gift" - which is about the nicest thing you could call a child.

Other possibles might be Vana and Este

Please not Este - it means "obstacle" in Finnish.... :rolleyes: ;)

Oh dear..maybe not then.... Estee Lauder presumably isn't a big seller then..

And Vana, also without the marks (not Vána), would be "bath-tub" in Czech... so these probably are not the best picks ;)

My second cousin had a baby and she named her Annewen or something along those lines, it means beautiful girl I think, but don't quote me on that one...

Oh yes, and Vana (again without the accent) would be "wake" in Finnish. A wake as if a sort of a line. I'm not sure if I can explain but the term "wake" makes little sense to me in this meaning (had to consult a dictionary). But hmmm.. it's like a trail or line left by something that has either been dragged or has flowed. I hope I made sense. :rolleyes: Anyway, as that is not very bad and Vána and Vana are supposed to be pronounced differently, I did not bring it up before but Legate kind of forced me to...

Melian would still be best then....
 

Oh dear, I knew someone called Vanna so I thought it would be ok.... the horrors of translation..... My lecturer used to collect this sort of stuff. My favourite was the renaming of the Vauxhall/Opel Nova car for the Spanish market (no va = it doesn't go!)

Many welsh names are unsuprisingly close or identical to Elvish eg Morwen (maiden) Rhiannon (great queen) Angharad (much loved) , and Amroth is a place....

Vanna? Poor her: that's the word for a plastic bowl/bath tube babies and toddlers are bathed in! :D:p

Oh, I love this. :D

Well she was run over by a truck so her misfortunes only increased... :eek:

Now you will probably tell me that my own name means lavatory cistern in Finnish or something just as bad.... not that they have such great meanings in their own languages...:rolleyes:

Haha, no. :D Not yours or any other downers' names I can think of.

Sheesh - as if it isn't enough to worry about how a name sounds in English and German, now we have to worry about Czech and Finnish, too? :eek:

Oh but their names probably sound silly to us .... :p

No, you need not. I will just tell you if you consider something totally outrageous... ;)

Just to clear something up: a wake is that white foaming trail left by a boat in the water.

Now I can't shake this association of Vana with an Irish wake. I think this is something to keep a note of, for possible REB use some day. :D

A wake? Isn't that what Elmer Fudd uses to gather the weaves in his yawd?

Sorry, too much caffeine today. Funny though, I've never had coffee at a wake, but the guest of honor won't wake even if he had coffee.

Sorry again. Ah, what a muddled mess I have left in my wake.

D'oh!

Thank you. But the dictionary seemed to imply it could mean something else (something very similar) too, but it was rather unclear. And it isn't a perfect translation as the Finnish word means just so much more than that ship thing...

I think the important part here is that a "vana" is a trail of something in Finnish. So vana is nothing independent but something that exists following something else.

When a (small) boat goes through the water it leaves a "vana" behind it.

There is a Finninsh idiom that says something comes in "vanavedessä" of something eg. in "vana-waters" of something. There's the tie with the water.

Like a candidate in the elecetions who gets a landslide vote will draw the next candidate of her/his party in his/her "vanavedessä" up in the ranking and possibly through the election.

Or in athletics when for instance during the marathon one runner makes a dash for it at 30 kilometers and some others follow in his "vanavedessä" to break from the main group.

So it means following in a way even if it is a substantive - the thing that is to be seen from something that follows - like the trail in the water of a boat, or the trail (vana) of tears that can be seen on the cheeks even if the actual tears have dropped away.

Yay Finnish! it's my native tongue and I always hold pride in the fact that the creation of Quenya was greatly influenced by it :)

p.s. I've switched to a new account because I found a better user name than Olorin the White. It's a little more personal to me :)

as for names recommended thus far, I really liked Liona and Arien! Rhionna is also a great choice. It means enchantress and can be loosely translated to Luthien!

Evidently, with words like "vana" and "vanavedessä"!:)

Lommy, "wake" is also used in a metaphorical way: "in the wake of" means "following" or "as a result of". Very popular with journalists. Like, "In the wake of last week's scandal, the Prime Minister has announced his intention to resign from office".

Yes, now that I think of it, I must have heard it a dozen times but not registered it. Also, thanks to Guy Gavriel Kay, I can now also use it of people. :cool: (Err, that is if I can remember the correct preposition... :rolleyes: ) I always enjoy learning English. :D

We're soon taking over the forum. :cool:

Morm, I, too, think Rian is lovely. Keep trying. :)

As for Este and Vana, I have always been aware of their meanings in Finnish but I never thought about them that way, if you understand what I mean. Their names never made me laugh or anything (as a matter of fact, the only name that had me laughing was Kalavénë which, without the accents, means fishing boat) - Este never was an obstacle Vana a wake to me. Though if the child ever met a Finn who's not familiar with Tolkien's works, I don't know what they would think.

Two nice names that I can think of are Eonwe and Fionwe (or Finwe), but I'm not sure if they sound too feminine? What about Curufin and Daeron?

Haleth is a nice name which also works for both genders. Lalaith would make a good one, too - unless the parents don't want to name their child after a girl who died at the age of three.

Nice as it is, I guess Lobelia is not one of the most popular M-E names?

I must suggest also Maglor. :p

Rian is a beautiful name, morm.

Amarië is another beautiful female name.
If I remember correctly, she was a Vanya and 'beloved' by Finrod, but decided to stay in Valinor.

It can possibly work without too many problems, since it sounds similar to 'anne-marie'.

Arien is beautiful and won't confuse non-Tolkien fans too much I guess.

I guess if your daughter has dark hair, Morwen would work. It's a pretty name, but probably not the best 'fate' wise.

That's all I can think of now, but others probably have better suggestions. Congratulations!

~ Ka

I rather like the name Lalaith, it's very pretty, even if you don't know the meaning...

But I think that I would name my kid Lobelia. It is a nice name, and I rather like Lobelia S.B. anyway!
But I don't think I'm going to be having kids anytime soon... or at least I hope not...:eek:

Okay, so she was born on the 25th and we have decided upon a name, while she is not Rian, she is a Middle-earth inspired name! Miriel! She is lovely and has a great temperment.

Yay! *coos at said munchkin in a nonthreatening manner*

Miriel is a lovely name, and congratulations! Another 'Downer baby, we'll have a creche soon. :D Do we get pictures of this cheerful lass or is Mrs. morm not keen on that? Anyway, congratulations again. :)

Jewel, eh? Glad you convinced her to take a M-E name. Congrats! :D

Hmm, ten or so years from now, I will go back to this site (if it's still existing, that is) and ask what name I could consider for my kid.

http://i188.photobucket.com/albums/z...o/PICT0027.jpg

It seems a bit blurrier here, though I'm not sure why. Anyway this gives you an idea.

Awwww morm she's lovely! Congratulations! And the name is perfect. :)

Awwww...
She's indeed very cute and you have given her a beautiful name.
Congratulations! :)

Congratulations, morm!! She's beautiful, so cute with that pink ribbon in the hair! Miriel is indeed a lovely name, and one that only rabid book fans will recognize as coming from Middle-earth - an inside joke, so to speak. Best wishes to her, her parents, and the whole family - may you be blessed with all that you need and as much of what you want as you can handle!

Sweetie! :D

But you never told us the third most important thing* everyone wants to know about a new little baby...what's her weight? ;)





*After the gender and name of course!

She is 22.5 inches and 9lbs 7 oz so a very big little girl.