You know, I never thought of giving a boy child a compound name (and I’m not really thinking about it seriously for a girl child either- and also I’m not seriously thinking of being pregnant anytime soon. So all hypothetical).
Some families give every child the same first part and then differentiate them by the second. Which is a little bizarre, I guess- I mean, I don’t really see the point of the first part if they’re just going to go by the second.
But there are some two-part names that sound really pretty- just the way the sounds link up is lovely. I remember being a little obsessed with a girl at my stable who was a bit older than me (I was 10 at the time, she was maybe 13 or 14, but seemed so much older to me) who was named Katie Finn.
Now that I think about it, that’s kind of amazingly Irish. But I thought she was very cool and had a very cool name and I think I signed her up for eHarmony and gave the site a random email address because hey I can’t explain what my mind was doing.
My compound name crushes now continue to be amazingly and kind of stereotypically attached to cultures and languages- mainly French, Italian, and Spanish. Although I guess every language has its own compound name traditions?
In America you have things like Jim Bob and Mary Lou.
In England you have things like Alice Rose and Ivy Claire.
And then in my brain, you have:
Anna Maria: Was this not the lady pirate in Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl? And is anyone going to see the fifth installment?
Regardless, all of the fluid A- sounds make this all seem very melodic. Plus, pirates! Always excellent namesakes.
Anna Lucia: I’m kind of meh on this one because I like Lucia better alone. And if you needed a longer name than Lucia (for whatever reason) it would be better to go with Luciana for Lucretia (if you don’t mind the Borgia reference).
Marie Laure: I feel like Marie is the basic French building block of double barreled names. And I love so many names with the Laur- and Lor- and -lor and -laure sounds.
Marie Christine: Apparently this is a musical based on the Medea myth. Maybe not the best choice for a name. (One post that’s been in the blog pipeline for months is a list of names with unsavory connotations from Greek tragedies).
Maria Antonia: Marie Antoinette’s original name before she married Louis XVI and relocated to France. I really do like the name Antonia, and I believe it just cracked the top 1000 this year, according to the SSA. All of Marie Antoinette’s sisters had Maria – names. I remember one was a Josephine. And her mother was Maria Theresa.
Marie Therese? I still just like Therese alone better.
So Marie Laure and Anna Maria are easily my favorites, and the only ones I prefer as compounds to the individual root names.
Do you like any of these, or any others? Would you give a child a compound name? Or do you have a compound name?
I’ve always found the term ‘double-barreled to be oddly aggressive.
List Mimsy 