A friend recently asked me my take on combo-names (combining parts of two or more names to come up with a new one). You probably won't be surprised to hear that I advise great caution when considering this concept. Many people see this as a terrific way to dodge the, "do we name her after your mom or mine?" question.
Thus, names like "Janeilica," a creative combination of "Janelle" and "Angelica" are born. Yikes. Blake and I had jokingly said that we'd give a baby girl the name "Raelynn," which happens to be a real name, after both of our mothers' middle names, "Rae" and "Lynn." But seeing as "Raelynn" is a little to mountain mama for our taste, it was never a serious possibility. Other combinations of their first names, "Diana" and "Marisa" lead to such humorous monikers as "Darisa," "Marana," and "Marisana." No, any baby of ours would be named after one person only, or none at all. However, I am in favor of the idea if the combo-name is indeed a real, respectable name (other than Raelynn!). For instance, the friend that inquired about this topic is named Aimee, and her husband is Bram. Put them together and you get "Abram!" While I probably wouldn't name a kid "Abram," it's a legitimate name, and clearly incorporates both of the parents.
So, if the idea of combo names intrigues you, go ahead an experiment. Just don't get too excited if the best you can come up with is "Janelica."
I have a friend with a boy, Keiric (Keith/Eric) and another one with their girl's name Anna Kalea, which covered all her sisters (Annie, Katie, Leah). I think it's cute and special for those that get the honor of someone being named after them! I grew up wishing my parents had named me the Kendra they had thought about, so that I would have that much more connection to my dad (Ken). But they didn't want the confusion of girls calling for "Ken" and meaning me. :) You should do a study on hyphenated last names. I've always been quite intrigued about what a couple who both have hyphenated last names name their children.
ReplyDeleteHmmmm I'm not a huge fan of Keiric (but mostly because I'm not into the "made up K names trend), but Anna Kalea is so sweet! Well done on that one! And I'll have to pursue the hyphen-issue in a future post!
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