Monday, April 30, 2018

"Bear" with me

(so, so sorry for the title. Punning well is not my strong suit)

I was part of a discussion not long ago about how to honor a Christopher without using a common Chris-name (like Christian, Kristin, Christine, Crystal, etc), and it got me thinking about using the second element -pher/phoros. The only name I could easily come up with was Lucifer, but that seems like a  no-go.
So of course I had to go looking for more, and it turns out it was a reasonably common name element in Ancient Greece. Christopher is "Christ-bearer", and Lucifer is "light-bearer", and it's interesting to see what other things parents wanted their kids to "bear". [yes, if you want to get technical, Lucifer is from Latin, not Greek, but -fer is the Latin cognate of Greek -phor/pher-]
With one exception, all the constructions I found were masculine, some with feminine forms.

I've also included reasonable (IMO) Anglicizations, based on how other Ancient Greek names have been adapted to Modern English (just as a fun exercise for me). :)

  • Agathephoros (Agathephore)  -- "bearer of good". Feminine: Agathephoris
  • Anthesphoros (Anthespher) -- "flower-bearer" 
  • Aristophora -- "bearing the best" [the one exclusively-feminine construction]
  • Chrysiforos (Chysipher) -- "gold-bearer" 
  • Doryphoros (Dorypher) --"spear-bearer" 
  • Elpidephoros (Elpidepher) -- "hope-bearer". Feminine: Elpidephoris, Elpidephoria
  • Euphoros (Eupher) -- "well-borne" 
  • Halophoros (Halopher) -- "salt-bearer"?? 
  • Heosphoros (Eospher or Heosphore) -- "dawn-bearer"?? 
  • Kalliphoros (Callipher) -- "bearer of beauty" 
  • Karpophoros (Carpophore-- "fruit-bearer". Feminine: Karpophora, Karpophoria.
     [carpophore is an actual botanical term]
  • Kerdophoros (Cerdopher) -- "profit-bearer" 
  • Nikephoros (Nicopher-- "victory-bearer". Far and away the most common -phoros name I found! Feminine: Nikephoris.
    [Nikifor is the modern Slavic form, Nicefor a Polish form, and Nicéphore a rare French form]
  • Oinophoros (Oenopher) -- "wine-bearer"
  • Onesiphoros (Onesipher) -- "advantage-bearer". Feminine: Onasiphoris.
    [Onésiphore is a rare French form, Onisifor a rare Romanian form]
  • Pamphoros (Pamphore) -- "bearing all" 
  • Pherekles (Pherecles)-- "bearing glory" 
  • Pherekrates (Pherecrates) -- "bearing power"
  • Pherekydes (Pherecydes) -- "bearing fame" 
  • Pherenikos (Pherenicus-- "bearing victory". Feminine: Pherenika.
    [although you probably already know this name by its pseudo-Latinized form, Veronica]
  • Pheretimos (Pheretimus) -- "bearing honor". Feminine: Pheretima
  • Phosphoros (Phosphore) -- "light-bearer" [haha, don't use this one on a human, please; in any form]
  • Prophoros (Propher) -- "bearing forward" 
  • Stephanephoros, Stephephoros (Stephanepher, Stephepher) -- "crown-bearer". Feminine: Stephanephoria
  • Symphoros (Sympher) -- "bear together". Next most common after Nikephoros.
    Feminine: Sympheron, Symphoris
  • Telesphoros (Telespher) -- "bearing fulfillment" Feminine: Telesphoris, Telesphoria, Telesphora.
    [Telesfor is the modern Polish form, Telesforo the Spanish, and Télesphore the French]
  • Theophoros (Theophore) -- "god-bearer"
    [possibly not actually given to children, but it was the adopted title of at least a couple historic figures]
  • Zoophoros (Zoopher) -- "life-bearer" 


Aaaaand now you know what a giant dork does when she's bored. :p

Thursday, April 26, 2018

2017 Predictions!

It's getting pretty close to Mother's Day! I should probably get my predictions in while I can. ;)
Using my own statistical analysis, here's what I think the 2017's Top 20 will look like:


Boys
Girls
1.
Noah (no change)
Olivia (+1)
2.
Liam (no change)
Emma (-1)
3.
William (no change)
Ava (no change)
4.
Benjamin (+2)
Sophia (no change)
5.
James (no change)
Charlotte (+2)
6.
Oliver (+6)
Mia (no change)
7.
Mason (-3)
Isabella (-2)
8.
Elijah (+1)
Amelia (+3)
9.
Michael (-1)
Harper (+1)
10.
Lucas (+4)
Abigail (-2)
11.
Jacob (-4)
Evelyn (+1)
12.
Ethan (-2)
Emily (-3)
13.
Alexander (-2)
Elizabeth (no change)
14.
Matthew (+1)
Sofia (no change)
15.
Daniel (-2)
Avery (+1)
16.
Aiden (no change)
Scarlett (+2)
17.
Sebastian (+7)
Madison (-2)
18.
Owen (+5)
Riley (+4)
19.
Henry (+3)
Ella (-2)
20.
Jackson (-3)
Aria (+3)


Here're the names I think will move into and out of the Top 100:

Boys
Girls
IN
Santiago
Emilia
Harrison
Everly
Everett
Ivy

Rylee
OUT
Tyler
Katherine
Brandon
Kylie

Taylor

Brianna


And (quite a bit more uncertain), the names that'll join (in some cases, rejoin) the Top 1000:

Boys
Girls
Abner
Addalyn
Aksel
Agnes
Baker
Amora
Bastian
Arleth
Bear
Arlette
Briar
Avalyn
Chevy
Bellamy
Cillian
Della
Danilo
Egypt
Decker
Eleanora
Eamon
Elodie
Edmund
Etta
Finnian
Everlee
Finnick
Florence
Forest
Harlyn
Gianluca
India
Kain
Jurnee
Kaiser
Kamiyah
Khari
Kensington
Kiaan
Legacy
Kyng
Litzy
Lian
Loretta
Malakhi
Lyanna
Menachem
Magdalena
Norman
Margo
Onyx
Marlowe
Remi
Octavia
Roderick
Opal
Ross
Palmer
Shepard
Rosalee
Wallace
Shanaya
Youssef
Shea
Zack
Spencer

Treasure

Waverly

Whitley

Xiomara