Wednesday, April 26, 2006

And I Shall Name Thee v2.0

The matter of coming up with a name has been bugging me non-stop since day 1, and all the more so now that I'm getting so close to my first day on T. So here's what I'm considering at the moment:

There are lots of boys' names out there that I like, but I feel don't necessarily suit me personality-wise or looks-wise. For some reason, when I was much younger and the Internet was in its youth, I once had the idea of posing as male in some social chat rooms on IRC (yeah, remember that?). I don't know how the idea came to me, but I do remember how nervous I was and how the shivers ran up my spine when I logged on under the new id for the first time.

I soon realised that I hadn't exactly thought this true when someone asked me my name. Mind you, this was back when even internet connections were nowhere near the speeds we get today, and even text took a while to transfer. So I at least had a handful of seconds to respond, and came up with: Nick. Don't ask me why, but there it was. And because it's stayed in my consciousness all these years, Nicholas will be my first name: what friends yell out when they see me across the street (or what enemies would while they were chasing me with burning sticks I suppose), what my girlfriend whispers urgently into my ear, what I write in those little boxes when I fill out forms (and there will be many of those, no doubt).

So Nicholas Alexander Marius I will be. If you think that's overkill, I really want to work "Lucius" (Luke) somewhere in there, but I fear that 4 names will be a little much (i.e. Nicholas Alexander Lucius Marius) so I'll leave that to when I actually change my name legally before deciding on whether I'll leave it out. I also haven't decided on the spelling for "Nicholas" (e.g. Nicolas, Nikolas, Nickolas) and "Alexander" (e.g. Aleksander, Aleksandr).

Nicholas derived from the Greek "Nikolaos", a combination of the words nike (victory) and laos (people), i.e. victory of the people. Famous people/characters: Tsar Nikolai Aleksandrovich Romanov (the last emperor of Russia), Niccolò Machiavelli (a Florentine political philosopher), Niels Bohr (because I'm an electrical engineer) and Nicolaus Copernicus (an astronomer who first theorised that our solar system was centered around the sun).

Alexander derived from the Latin "Alexander", a combination of the words alex (refuge, protection, defence) and andros (man), i.e. protector of man. Famous people/characters: Alexander the Great (of course), and a whole bunch of other monarchs.

Lucius derived from the Latin lux (light), i.e. bringer of light. Famous people/characters: Lucius Domitius Ahenobarbus (the Emperor Nero), and a whole bunch of prominent men in Roman history.

Marius derived from the Roman Mars (God of War), or else from the Latin root mas, maris meaning "manly". Often thought to be from the Latin "mare" (sea). Famous people/characters: Gaius Marius (a famous Roman general), Marius de Romanus (an important character in the Vampire Chronicles).

Thanks to all who have voted in the poll on the left. It was interesting to see which names people liked the most. The final results are below, and a new poll has been put up.

Which first name do you like the most?
Which name you liked the most. Total votes: 58.


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