My father’s name is [name_m]Peter[/name_m] and I’ve been wondering how to honour him in the names of my future children. For a son of course a middle name as simply [name_m]Peter[/name_m] would suffice although I am open to less obvious suggestions.
For a daughter however I feel I have more options, except none of them are really my style (feel free to check my sig to get an idea of the types of names I usually go for). I have thought of [name_f]Petra[/name_f], [name_f]Petronella[/name_f]/[name_f]Petronilla[/name_f], [name_f]Peta[/name_f] and [name_f]Pierette[/name_f]. Out of these [name_f]Petra[/name_f] is my favourite although still not really my usual style however since this would be a middle name I’m not as strict about it. I also like the idea of [name_f]Pierette[/name_f] since it’s spelt like my dad’s ([name_m]Peter[/name_m] with an ‘i’ since he is Dutch) though worry many would think it looks like the name of a small fancy pie
I was wondering if anyone had any other ideas or more out of the box options? I’m open especially to not so on-the-nose names, like even ones that share a general sound and/or meaning ([name_m]Peter[/name_m] means “rock”).
For a boy, there are some nice international variations like [name_m]Peder[/name_m], [name_m]Pieter[/name_m], [name_m]Piers[/name_m] etc.
With the meaning ‘rock’ you can find some great names on nameberry! [name_m]Ferris[/name_m], [name_u]Calder[/name_u], [name_m]Callan[/name_m] and [name_f]Cella[/name_f] (or you could use [name_f]Celia[/name_f] instead) are my favorites. Or, for a boy, the middle name [name_m]Stone[/name_m] works too. [name_f]Agate[/name_f], Carnelian, [name_f]Gemma[/name_f], [name_m]Eben[/name_m], [name_f]Ione[/name_f] and [name_m]Thurston[/name_m] have stone-related meanings.
For similar-sounding names, there’s [name_f]Easter[/name_f] (or even [name_f]Esther[/name_f]), [name_f]Pia[/name_f], [name_f]Petal[/name_f], [name_f]Pippa[/name_f], [name_m]Pip[/name_m], [name_u]Poet[/name_u], [name_m]Prosper[/name_m], [name_m]Pippin[/name_m], [name_m]Peregrine[/name_m], [name_m]Walter[/name_m], [name_f]Aster[/name_f], [name_f]Hester[/name_f], [name_u]Winter[/name_u], [name_m]Chester[/name_m], [name_u]Dexter[/name_u] and [name_m]Foster[/name_m].
[name_m]Peter[/name_m]'s origin is Greek. In Greek, the name is actually [name_m]Petros[/name_m], which could give you [name_m]Ross[/name_m].
Now time for some names that are a bit of a stretch. [name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_m]Pan[/name_m] is the most obvious [name_m]Peter[/name_m] association, so [name_f]Wendy[/name_f] and [name_f]Jane[/name_f] (if you don’t remember [name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_m]Pan[/name_m], they’re the two female leads of each movie) could work. Or, agan for [name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_m]Pan[/name_m], [name_m]Pan[/name_m]dora. Another thing that comes to mind almost immediately is [name_m]Peter[/name_m] Rabbit, which was written by a woman named [name_f]Beatrix[/name_f]. Oh, and Rabbit is basically the same as “bunny”, which sounds a lot like [name_f]Bonnie[/name_f].
I like [name_f]Petra[/name_f]-- it’s classy and easy to spell and say. The ideas above out names meaning rock are good. You could also go with some jewel names-- [name_f]Emerald[/name_f], [name_f]Peridot[/name_f], etc. to honor [name_m]Peter[/name_m] too.
[name_m]Cephas[/name_m] - The original Biblical form of [name_m]Peter[/name_m].
Pétronille - [name_m]French[/name_m] for [name_f]Petronilla[/name_f]. This came to my mind since some of the names in your signature are [name_m]French[/name_m].
Similar meaning (rock):
[name_f]Alaina[/name_f]/[name_f]Alana[/name_f] - little rock; harmony
[name_m]Callen[/name_m] - rock
[name_f]Cela[/name_f] - rock
Carrick - rock
[name_m]Cephas[/name_m] - rock
[name_f]Ione[/name_f] - violet-coloured stone
[name_f]Izusa[/name_f] - white stone
[name_f]Petra[/name_f] - rock; stone
[name_m]Piers[/name_m] - rock
[name_f]Rochelle[/name_f] - little rock
[name_f]Sela[/name_f] - rock
I’m sorry if I repeat anything I haven’t read the other comments. I think [name_m]Peter[/name_m] is a gorgeous name on its own but if you don’t like it then that’s completely ok. There are many ways you could honor [name_m]Peter[/name_m]. You could give said baby the same initals as your father. So, [name_m]Declan[/name_m] [name_m]Peter[/name_m] could also be [name_m]Dawson[/name_m] [name_m]Patrick[/name_m]. You could give him a name with the same meaning or a variation as [name_m]Peter[/name_m]. Some options would be [name_u]Peru[/name_u], [name_m]Pierre[/name_m], [name_m]Pierce[/name_m], Pika, or [name_m]Pete[/name_m]. You could use a name with the same -ter ending too. Such as [name_m]Foster[/name_m], [name_m]Walter[/name_m], [name_m]Colter[/name_m], [name_u]Carter[/name_u], and [name_u]Hunter[/name_u]. You could use his first and middle to make a different name. So, say his name is [name_m]Declan[/name_m] [name_m]Peter[/name_m], You could mash them together to make [name_u]Dexter[/name_u]. (with a random x haha) You could use a name that had significant value to you both. So, if you both love hunting or arrows a name could be [name_m]Archer[/name_m]. Another idea you could use to honor [name_m]Peter[/name_m] would be a name which relates to his birthstone. Most birthstone names are for girls though. Some are [name_f]Sapphire[/name_f], [name_f]Opal[/name_f], [name_u]Ruby[/name_u], [name_f]Amethyst[/name_f], [name_f]Diamond[/name_f], or [name_f]Pearl[/name_f].
Sure, some of these options would take a bit more explaining than just naming him [name_m]Peter[/name_m] but as long as you know his name is after your father that’s all the should matter in my opinion.
Thank you everyone for your helpful suggestions! Sorry for the late reply, Thanksgiving has been a busy time :).
You’ve all given me plenty to think about!
I think my favourites of everyone’s suggestions are:
[name_f]Sela[/name_f]/[name_f]Cela[/name_f] - Great that it was the original name for the city of [name_f]Petra[/name_f]! I think this has the strongest not-obvious connection and it sounds so simple and beautiful as well. I also love how similar it is to [name_f]Selah[/name_f] as Psalms is my favourite book of the Bible.
[name_m]Cephas[/name_m] - Very cool name, though not sure I’m brave enough to use it.
[name_m]Callen[/name_m]/[name_m]Callan[/name_m] - [name_u]Love[/name_u] this! I actually have always loved the name [name_m]Cullen[/name_m] but never thought I’d be brave enough to use it because of the “Cull” (‘to kill’) portion of it, but [name_m]Callen[/name_m]/an is a perfect substitute and has a meaning tied to [name_m]Peter[/name_m] which is perfect.
[name_f]Pia[/name_f] also makes for a sweet middle as it sounds like [name_m]Peter[/name_m], just without the “t” (my accent doesn’t pronounce the ‘r’ at the end of [name_m]Peter[/name_m], so it sounds more like ‘Peetah’, so [name_f]Pia[/name_f] works nicely.
[name_m]Piers[/name_m] is a good option (my father’s is spelt [name_m]Pieter[/name_m], so the spelling of [name_m]Piers[/name_m] also lends itself nicely).
Pétronille - This is a much better form of [name_f]Petronilla[/name_f], still super feminine but not quite so frilly (I find I tend to avoid fem names ending in illa or lia for this reason).
[name_m]Ferris[/name_m] - this would be a cool and unexpected middle, also nicely close in sound to one of my favourite GPs, Fenris.
I love the idea of using names tied to [name_m]Peter[/name_m] [name_m]Pan[/name_m] or [name_m]Peter[/name_m] Rabbit, the only thing is my dad doesn’t really have a connection with anything like that personally as he was never read children’s books so he has very little idea so it would be less of a connection for him and more for me.
I like ellalynn23’s suggestions of using initials or even mashing names together to come up with a namesake! My dad’s other name is [name_u]Lawrence[/name_u] so I’m not sure how that might work haha, but I could definitely do something with the initials of PL potentially.
I think [name_m]Piers[/name_m] is stunning: clear-eyed and handsome. [name_u]Perrin[/name_u] is a [name_m]French[/name_m] diminutive for it, and you could even consider [name_m]Peregrine[/name_m], which doesn’t have the same etymology but has a similar sound.
Peronell, [name_m]Parnell[/name_m] and [name_f]Pernille[/name_f] are some lovely old variants of [name_f]Petronilla[/name_f]. Sweet nicknames abound: [name_f]Pearl[/name_f], Pear, [name_u]Penny[/name_u], [name_f]Petal[/name_f], and [name_f]Nell[/name_f]. Petroula and [name_f]Perrine[/name_f] are other feminine forms of [name_m]Peter[/name_m] that are worth considering.
If you wanted to inspire yourself from [name_u]Lawrence[/name_u] instead, I think [name_f]Laurel[/name_f] makes a lovely name for a boy or a girl.
Besides [name_m]Cephas[/name_m], I might suggest [name_m]Petar[/name_m] or [name_m]Pero[/name_m] - [name_m]Petar[/name_m] is Slavic form of [name_m]Peter[/name_m] & [name_m]Pero[/name_m] is nickname pet form of [name_m]Petar[/name_m].
I like [name_f]Petra[/name_f]. When I was in college I did a touring show with an all male cast and an all female cast. The play was written with the male names, so we had to change the female character names ourselves. I suggested [name_f]Petra[/name_f], and that was what we used.
