Word Names

One time I came across a blog post of somebody where they talked about diseases that sound like lovely names for a person.  I loved it and completely agreed. Diseases, especially old timey ones, can be so romantic at times.  I recently went on a tour of old houses and the tour guide, eager for a star student, asked right answer/wrong answer questions nonstop and the one I was tempted to answer was a SCURVY question and my friend Miss Smartypants Val got it first.  Scurvy! *shaking fist*

Oh, I remembered who wrote it.  So good, Kim.  A classic I think back to often.

Since I think about words a lot, I've been thinking about regular words that could be nice names.  Some people try to do this in naming their children, i.e. Apple.  This to me works ok, but isn't great.  It's sort of like naming your son "chair."   For me, anyway. But no offense if you've named your son that-- it's super cute.

If you choose to name your child after a noun, since it's such a specific thing, an item, you could have a hard time mentally separating the thing from the person. And physically, because maybe Apple loves apples?  And not to say I'm thinking about Gwyneth Paltrow's kids THAT often, but fairly often.

The words on my list made it because they perhaps resemble a real name. There are real name attributes therein so if you try really hard, you might be able to hear it as a person's name. Here's what I have so far:

1. Gasoline

For me this makes sense because so many names end in that "een" sound.  Janeen, a girl i knew named Malene, my friend Rene, mother-in-law Pauline, and countless others I frustratingly cannot recall at this moment. Doreen, Maureen, I knew a girl named Shalene.  Ok anyway.   So Gasoline sounds kind of nice, right? Elegant, even.  I don't know if you could go as far as using Gas as a nickname, but it's so close to Gus, so maybe? Plus I love using "gas" to mean something funny. Which I've never actually done, because I'm not from 1950, but i love the idea of it. If I start, will someone please name their kid Gasoline?

2. Catheter

Cathy, Catherine, Catheter!  Peter. Heather. Catheter.

Hi, my name's Catheter.  
Hey, Cath!
No, I only go by Catheter. 

It totally works.

3. Gender.

Any word with "gen" will work, of course.  Because Gennifer, see? Also, I met a girl named Jendar and that's pretty much the same.  Gender also happens to be a nickname of mine, used by a total of two people.

4. Genuine.

This works for the above reasons and also the last part of the word.  So the Gen + win elements.  Other names that end in "win"-- Edwin, Arwin, Eowen (what, these are real people).   So it makes sense that Genuine would be a name. Actually i'm fairly certain it is.

5. Margarine.

Marge + rine.  Margie.  Catherine. Margarine.  Could also be pronounced Margareen, i guess, except that wouldn't be a word, just a name, similar to Margeen or Marjean. I kind of like it though (the Margareen pronunciation).  It sort of takes Margarine and gives it an extra umph, sort of what Caroline (hard i) does to Carolyn, also a nice name.  Was this confusing?

I'm just realizing what a great post this would be for helping people choose a baby name. I'll keep going.

6. Tendril.

I don't know what the real name elements are here but I just like the sound of it, don't you? Sort of regal, sort of middle earthy.  It sort of reminds me of Kendra which is real.

After realizing most of these are girl names (obviously) I started to be on the lookout for boy word-names.  Here's one:

7. Cumulus

First, my favorite kind of cloud.

Has sort of a Roman sound, like Titus or Atticus, both of which are A+.

Also, i've decided that Tendril is gender-neutral. So is Gender.

8.  Plume.  

Leaning toward girl, here. With this one i sort of feel like I'm naming characters from Hunger Games.  It's nice though, right? And ironic since mostly males have the better plumage.

9. Chalk.  

For a boy. Like "Chad" and also rhymes with "jock."  I'm not really a fan. But it's a possibility. But it also reminds me of Chance, which I do like.

10. Soothe.  

For a girl.  It already has "Sue" in it, why not add the th and calm everybody down?

11. Ricochet.

This name has everything. Rick + fancy french.  What more could you want in a name?  Americanize it and give it a hard ch and t to make it cowboy.

12. Roulette. 

Has the feminine suffix of "ette" like Suzette.  And Rou is just lovely.  And, she's mysterious.  You never know what you're going to get with Roulette.

13. Collate.

I don't know about this one, regarding its success as a name or which gender to apply it to. It has "Cole" in it which is a great name, but the suffix is confusing.  It rhymes with "Kate,"  and also sounds like a deformed version of Colette.  So the logic is there but the final product is questionable.
 
14.  Magnet.  

This is a great name. And has real name elements, like Mag as in Magnussen, Maggie. I know a little tot named Magnolia. Great name. I love names taken from trees. And if you can do that, you should be able to name someone after one of my favorite things to play with.  And it's just so, so... alluring.

I guess I'll end it there.  Hope this has helped you on your quest for that perfect baby name, or for something to do.