New member here! Husband & I are having a hard time picking a name for baby #2! We’re looking for a name that will help honor husband’s father: [name]Napoleon[/name]! We’ve gone over [name]Leo[/name] and [name]Leon[/name] and all sorts of variations but nothing that we’ve fallen in love with and in this day and age, I’d like to avoid naming baby boy [name]Napoleon[/name]. We’re hoping to find a name that flows, honors grandpa, and (silly) but we’d love to call the baby [name]Jack[/name] (as his nickname). Any suggestions would be awesome! (If it matters, big sister’s name is [name]Vivienne[/name] [name]Rose[/name], she’s so excited to meet baby “bruddah”!)
Wow that’s a tall order! [name]How[/name] about [name]Leander[/name]? The name [name]Napolean[/name] means [name]Lion[/name] of Naples so if you go with the lion meaning you could choose a name which shares that meaning. For example:
Does he have a middle name? Maybe you could work that in. Or give him the same initials as the dear grandpa. I have the same dilemma, my grandpa is named [name]Melvin[/name]…I do not like his name (and neither does he) so I’m playing with the idea of giving a son the initals M.E.L. ( because conveniently my childrens surname starts with L).
In my family we tend to match initials; matching meanings would be okay too. Obviously if you can match initials you can go with something a little lower-key, like [name]Nicholas[/name] or [name]Nathaniel[/name] or whatever.
Names associated with “lion” could be [name]Leonard[/name], [name]Leonardo[/name], [name]Lev[/name], [name]Ari[/name]/[name]Aryeh[/name]/[name]Ariel[/name]. [name]Leonidas[/name] is probably just as difficult to live with as [name]Napoleon[/name] but in a different way. I liked the suggestion of [name]Leander[/name], it’s a more usable name.
The name [name]Judah[/name] is associated with lions in Judaism and they’re linked imagery, but it doesn’t literally mean lion in Hebrew.
Does the grandfather in question have a nickname? Perhaps that could give you something more to work with. Also, according to name berry’s page on [name]Napoleon[/name], it is a combination of ‘new city’ and ‘lion’ so maybe looking for other names with ties to the concept of a city could lead to something you like better.
Other lion ideas: [name]Lionel[/name]… Ok I’m out. (Except for repeating names already mentioned.)
Good luck!!
Why not [name]Jack[/name] [name]Napoleon[/name]? [name]John[/name] [name]Napoleon[/name] nn [name]Jack[/name]? [name]Jackson[/name] [name]Leon[/name]? [name]Leo[/name] [name]Jackson[/name]? [name]Jack[/name] [name]Leo[/name]?
[name]Leo[/name] and [name]Leon[/name] seem to be the best routes to go if you don’t want to use the whole [name]Napoleon[/name], and [name]Jack[/name] is a fine name to go with it…that way you get everything you want - calling the baby [name]Jack[/name] AND honouring the grandfather.
Another, less-obvious [name]Napoleon[/name]-inspired name: [name]Nolen[/name]. The letters appear in that order in [name]Napoleon[/name] - [name]NapOLEoN[/name].
You could do: [name]Nolen[/name] [name]Jack[/name]/[name]Jack[/name] [name]Nolen[/name] or [name]John[/name] [name]Nolen[/name]/[name]Nolen[/name] [name]John[/name] nn [name]Jack[/name] or [name]Nolen[/name] [name]Jackson[/name]/[name]Jackson[/name] [name]Nolen[/name] nn [name]Jack[/name]…
What about honoring him in the middle name spot instead? Then you can just use [name]Napoleon[/name]. I have no idea how you are going to get [name]Jack[/name] out of that, unless you named him [name]Napoleon[/name] [name]Jack[/name] or [name]Jack[/name] [name]Napoleon[/name].
Other names that mean lion:
[name]Leandro[/name]
[name]Liev[/name]
Aslan
[name]Lionel[/name]
[name]Leander[/name]
[name]Levon[/name]
[name]Lyall[/name]
When we were selecting middle names for our kids and wanted to honor family members without choosing their name or middle name we tried to look a the months that they were born, animals they were fond, or towns they were born on or from etc. ie, [name]August[/name], [name]Wolf[/name] etc.
