I know the Duggar family gets mentioned here all the time. I was over on the [name]Free[/name] [name]Jinger[/name] message boards and I found a really interesting sibset. These are the children of the eldest Dugger son’s sister-in-law.
Back to my old personal theory of matching weirdness level. I like different backgrounds, same weirdness, more than I like same category, different weirdness.
Which is to say: I do not care if they are all Biblical, [name]Timothy[/name] looks really strange to me in that group.
It’s like reading “Tamarix, [name]Amaryllis[/name], Chamaecyparis, [name]Rose[/name].” Sure, [name]Rose[/name] is a plant name and so are the others, but…?
That said, they didn’t make up or mispell anything.
Agape? I just googled it and it came up as being a Greek word, translated into English as “[name]Love[/name]”.
BUT, all I think of is:
a·gape [uh-geyp, uh-gap]
adverb, adjective
1.with the mouth wide open, as in wonder, surprise, or eagerness: We stood there agape at the splendor.
2.wide open: his mouth agape.
Yeah, Agape definitely isn’t ideal in an English speaking context. I think that the pronunciation is really interesting and sort of uniquely pretty though (it’s something like a-GAH-pee or a-GAH-pey). It sorts of falls into that category of names that aren’t really usable but wouldn’t it be nice if they were? for me, so I definitely think it’s interesting to see here!
This is actually something that I wonder about all of the time (the importance of matching weirdness/popularity levels) and haven’t really come to an exact personal conclusion on yet, so thanks so much for commenting on it!
I see why everyone seems to find [name]Timothy[/name] out of place amongst [name]Enoch[/name], [name]Nehemiah[/name], and [name]Elijah[/name]. It’s a New Testament name, whereas the other three are Old Testament names. This also means they have a different language origin–OT names are usually Hebrew, as in the case of these three, although not always. (There were other ancient language influences. [name]Esther[/name] is one of the most common examples of this.) [name]Timothy[/name], being a NT name is of Greek origin, and thus sounds very different. More than likely, the children were named after biblical characters the parents admired, because all four of them have strong biblical recommendations (not like naming your child [name]Judas[/name] or [name]Jezebel[/name]).
As for the girls, they are all virtue names, but in Greek (the language of the NT). It’s the equivalent of naming your children [name]Truth[/name], [name]Love[/name], and [name]Grace[/name]. It’s really just a different twist on the virtue name trend.
Not saying I would name my children with those names, or that it makes the names less strange to the ear, but I thought it might provide a little insight for anyone who was not familiar with the origins.
This makes me so happy, it’s my rule as well I like that you call it weirdness level, it’s much better than what I’ve been calling it. ^^
I love that they used [name]Enoch[/name], an awesome name!
I’m unfamiliar with Alatheia, is it an attempt at [name]Aletheia[/name] or Amaltheia, or is it a name in its own right?
It is a transliteration of the Koine Greek word for truth (ἀλήθεια), although I believe [name]Aletheia[/name] is more common, and perhaps more correct. So, to answer your question, my educated guess is it’s an attempt an [name]Aletheia[/name]. There are often multiple spellings when converting from one alphabet to another.
I would instinctively pronounce Alatheia and [name]Aletheia[/name] differently so maybe they were aiming for a pronunciation?
Thanks for the clarification
I generally still prefer The Duggars names though, with the exception of them having [name]Joy[/name]-[name]Anna[/name] and [name]Johannah[/name] (too similar), [name]Jinger[/name] (terrible spelling) and [name]Jordyn[/name] (yuck).
I like that you call it weirdness level, it’s much better than what I’ve been calling it. ^^