So, as my husband and I near our 8th year together, we reminisce and discuss how much we’ve changed, etc. And he reminded me that the first time we played chess together was during an all nighter as we took on the shift of overnight dorm duty (we both taught at a military boarding school). Fast forward and we play chess at night as a way to wind down and get off our computer and phone screens before bed.
I was wondering, then, what names you could think of inspired by chess. We have Rook as a middle name option, though it’s not the husband’s favorite. Any other ideas? Thanks!
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[name_m]Knight[/name_m] would be a cool middle !
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[name_m]Chester[/name_m]
[name_u]Chesney[/name_u]
[name_m]Knight[/name_m]
[name_u]Kingsley[/name_u] / [name_m]Kingston[/name_m]
[name_m]Archimedes[/name_m] - master planner
[name_m]Castiel[/name_m] (sounds like Castle)
Maybe something related to the colour of the squares?
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@rhodes2nowhere [name_m]Knight[/name_m] is a cool middle, I’ll think about pairing it with some of my firsts. Thank you!
@Oblivious_octopus Hmm, [name_m]Chester[/name_m] is on our list and I didn’t even make the connection. [name_m]Archimedes[/name_m] is also a great name, as is [name_m]Castiel[/name_m]. Thank you!
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Maybe [name_f]Reina[/name_f]? It means queen in Spanish.
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[name_f]My[/name_f] first thought was [name_m]Gambit[/name_m]! [name_m]Chester[/name_m] and [name_m]Knight[/name_m] are also super cool suggestions.
[name_u]Rey[/name_u]- means [name_m]King[/name_m] in Spanish
[name_u]Rex[/name_u]- means [name_m]King[/name_m] in Latin
[name_f]Kali[/name_f]- this one is more unisex, means horse in Albanian, but has origins in Sanskrit based languages and can be a variation of [name_f]Callie[/name_f] (and all of those names) (can be pronounced kah-lee or cal-ee)
[name_f]Regina[/name_f]- means [name_f]Queen[/name_f] in Latin
Castle- I honestly just straight up like Castle as a name, more likely for the middle but cool nonetheless
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You may look at this website. It’s a Chess Forum, but someone asked a similar question on there in April.
Also, here is a list of names based off The Queen’s Gambit. Each name tells how it is related and gives how it relates to chess if there is another link (i.e. the actress who played the lead in the series was named Anya and there was also a real-life chess grandmaster named Anya Corke).
There is a chess piece used in some variations called a Fairy Chess Piece.
When made King or Queen in the UK, the names Rex and Regina are added to the end of their names respectively to indicate their new title.
Chess Related names
- Caissa → the goddess or muse of chess → maybe Cassia would work as well
- Gambit
- Chesten
- Chessie
- Chelse
means KING unless otherwise indicated
- Ara – Malik – Rex – Rey – Roy
- Ryan → little king
means QUEEN unless otherwise indicated
- Raina – Raine – Rainey – Rainy – Rani – Rayne – Reggie – Regina – Reina – Reine – Rion – Thema
- Juno → queen of the heavens
- Rana → queenly
- Reinette → little queen
- Rhiannon → divine queen
- RIona → queenly
- Tiana → fairy queen
means KNIGHT unless otherwise indicated
- Faris – Ritter – Satriya
- Chevy → horseman, knight
means ROOK unless otherwise indicated
- Roxbury → rook’s town or fortress
- Rugby → rook fortress
means CASTLE unless otherwise indicated
- Cala – Cashel – Luxor
- Torra → from the castle
People from the Chess World
-
Here is a list of chess grandmasters → you may find a name on there you like
- Anish → a Nepali-Russian chess prodigy
- Emre → Emre Can, a chess grandmaster
- Zaven → chess Grandmaster Zaven Andriasian
- Robert, James, Bobby, Fischer → chess grandmaster Robert James “Bobby” Fischer
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Well shockingly, the Queen’s [name_m]Gambit[/name_m] article didn’t even mention [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] and I think it’ll be a nice choice, it doesn’t have a super direct connection to chess unlike [name_m]Knight[/name_m] or Rook
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Besides all of the amazing (:]) things that have been suggested already, [name_m]Bishop[/name_m] or [name_f]Queenie[/name_f]?
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@ac9nec5 I agree that it is shocking that the article didn’t mention [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f] as a separate name option, even if it is mentioned in a couple of the paragraphs within the article. It is a great choice as well.
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@EagleEyes [name_f]Reina[/name_f] is very pretty, thank you!
@leafygreens [name_m]Gambit[/name_m] is cool, as is Castle and [name_u]Rex[/name_u]. I also love [name_f]Regina[/name_f], but it doesn’t sound great with our last name. Thank you!
@shells15 Thank you so much for the detailed response! There’s some funny people on that chess forum. The Queen’s [name_m]Gambit[/name_m] article is a great list. I hadn’t considered [name_f]Caissa[/name_f] before! That’s lovely. [name_f]Chessie[/name_f] is adorable, as is Chessa, and I really like [name_f]Rana[/name_f], [name_f]Reinette[/name_f], [name_m]Ritter[/name_m], [name_m]Rugby[/name_m], and [name_f]Cala[/name_f]. Thank you, thank you!
@ac9nec5 and @shells15 While I do like [name_f]Elizabeth[/name_f], we just know way too many of them, and the only variant on our list right now is [name_f]Eliza[/name_f]. But I’ll explore that name some more with my husband.
@mea.ola [name_m]Bishop[/name_m] and [name_f]Queenie[/name_f] are both great suggestions, thank you! [name_f]My[/name_f] husband actually has an Aunt [name_f]Queenie[/name_f].
Thank you everyone!
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[name_f]My[/name_f] wife is a chess enthusiast and currently reading a book about the 1960 world championship game between [name_m]Mikhail[/name_m] [name_u]Tal[/name_u] and [name_m]Mikhail[/name_m] Botvinnik, so [name_m]Mikhail[/name_m] came to my mind first!
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I’ve always thought [name_f]Chessie[/name_f] was cute!