Where are the great old names like Ramses and Assurbanipal?

[arbusto_baboso]

People talk of giving their kids "traditional" names, but when was the last time you met a "Xerxes"?

Pah. If parents want to give their kids traditional old-fashioned names, they shouldn't half-ass it. I want to see the Imhoteps and Hammurabis.

[MiddleFingerMom]

1. Ramses, I get. It's a condom. But...

.
Assurbanipal?
.
Sounds like he/she could be Country Mouse's FWB.
.

[arbusto_baboso]

4. Assurbanipal = Akadian emperor. (edited for addition)

And you do know that Ramses was also an Egyptian king, right?

[LibertyLover]

10. True story about Ramses condoms

Years ago my mom and I were in a CVS. Mom was incredibly far-sighted (bad luck for me as a kid 'cause I couldn't get away with much), but couldn't see up close and needed glasses to read, sew, etc. Anyway she was at the cash register paying for something, looked down and saw the Ramses box with the winged solar disc on it that they had at the time near the cash register (shop lifting protection I would imagine). Mom had been a high school history teacher and was at the time of this episode, a librarian. She knew her Egyptian history. So anyway, she asked me what the box with Ramses on it was. I told her condoms. She was silent a moment and then burst out laughing and managed to wheeze "how singularly inappropriate." The older lady behind her on the line piped up with something along the lines of "I agree entirely - ugh sex on open display." Mom, who as I mentioned knew her Egyptian history, replied "oh no dear, I mean after all, Ramses did have something on the order of 200 children." We both walked out chuckling and left some poor woman sputtering about indecency. There are times when I really miss my mom.

[arbusto_baboso]

12. ROFL Knew about Ramses but not about his progeny.

200!!!! Damn. Singularly inappropriate indeed.

[LibertyLover]

13. Just to clarify - I mean Ramses II

of the 19th Dynasty. In the later New Kingdom there were 11 pharaohs named Ramses. It was sort of the Louis of ancient Egypt. We have the names of about 100 of his children - 59 sons and 44 daughters, but it is generally thought that he had more than that. My professors always rounded up to 200, but its still a bunch of kids no matter what - heck he could have been one of the Quiverfull families, except for that pagan thing. :)

[TZ]

2. My great grandfather's name was Sol.

You don't see many people named after the Sun anymore either...:)

[arbusto_baboso]

5. Got me on that one.

Sol is definitely "retro" in a big way!

[Kutjara]

3. I'm even more traditionalist than that.

If I ever have kids, I'm going to name them "Grok" and "Tharg". What was good enough for my cave-dwelling ancestors is good enough for me.

[arbusto_baboso]

6. Sounds like a plan.

But please consider Gilgamesh. We don't want classic names like that to die out.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

7. Nebuchadnezzar. Enkidu.

Have you ever met a kid named Enkidu? I bet you haven't. People are a little too picky about which gods and goddesses they name their kids after, too. What's wrong with Shiva, Vishnu and Kali? How about Astarte, Inanna/Ishtar or Dumuzi/Tammuz? Diana is pretty common, but what about Apollo, Polyphemus, Charon or Medusa? Wouldn't it be cool to be named Medusa?

Honestly, people have no imagination these days. Madison, Joshua and Tiffany. Feh.

[arbusto_baboso]

8. Ah, a kindred spirit!

I was thinking of a son named Marduk. Or perhaps Lugh.

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

9. The Norse have been neglected as well.

Wotan or Loki would be neat names. I did once hear of a Norwegian Forest Cat named Loki.

[LibertyLover]

11. I hate to disagree, but

have you looked at an Icelandic or Scandinavian phone book? It's full of Odins, Thors, Odinssons, Thorssons, etc. Thoras and Thorasdattirs, too.

[sarge43]

16. A good friend's name is Erda, an oldie and goldie.

Old German for earth.

[eppur_se_muova]

14. Ishtar = Esther

Many ME names are still around, in Eurified forms.

[femmocrat]

15. I had an Aramis in class a few years ago.

:eyes:

[LibertyLover]

22. My mom worked with a math teacher years ago named Artemis

The family was Armenian but had lived in Greece for several generations.

[sammytko]

25. my grandniece is named Amaris

My grand nephew is named Romulus or however you spell it.

[KG]

17. Youshack, Meshack, and Tobedwego.

[blue neen]

18. I knew a guy named Achilles.

That's an oldie but goodie.

[Walk away]

19. I grew up next door to the Wybils. Mom was Yunice, dad was Roc (short for something weirder)....

Their older daughter was Geraldyne but they had moved from England for their youngest and they wanted to give her an American name so they called her Dorcas.

My Dad dealt with the name thing pretty well until they bought a dog and named him Spot. I just remember my parents laughing so hard that they cried and making us promise never to tell anyone and that laughing at people's name was bad.

[Odin2005]

20. When I worked at the local YWCA preschool there was a kid there named Darius.

[Ikonoklast]

23. Was he great?

Or just so-so?

[Odin2005]

26. He was very cute and funny!

:)

[AmyDeLune]

21. I know an Akhenaten...

no, really. He clearly has parents who know their ancient history. I also know a Peter Gunn, his parents must just have a twisted sense of humor.

[blogslut]

24. I used to know a guy named Agamemnon

He grew up a sheltered child. Ironic when you think about it.