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I'm sorry but it's little better than calling a child Adolf. It's not the same at all than Julius and Alexander because Caesar and Alexander the great are, rightly or wrongly, perceived more positively (inversely, Tamerlane himself, though a bloodthirsty warrior, may have been portrayed in an exceedingly negative light, for instance apparently he was a patron of the arts, contrasting the idea that he was an ignorant barbarian http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tamerlane).

This message was edited 8/2/2007, 7:04 AM

I sort of like it

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but prefer Tamburlaine, which is just an alternative transliteration from whatever the original language was. I think it has a lovely sound, and the combos you suggest work fine, but . . . well, see Eilis' post for my big problem with it.

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Tamburlaine the Great was a vicious tyrant and generally a seriously bad namesake. That said, other vicious tyrants' names have become common currency (Julius, Alexander).

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Love the name, hate the namesake. I think it could possibly be usable, especially as there are common-ish nns Tam and Laine to fall back on.

Well, this makes me think of Tamerlane Phillips, the son of the late rock star John Phillips of The Mamas and the Papas group. Years ago in John Phillips' own autobiography he mentioned a time when Tamerlane was of junior high age when he hated his name and wanted to be called Mike instead. But like most teenagers who go through such a phase, this didn't last, and he is evidently calling himself Tamerlane again today. :)

Rofl!

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Tamerlane (Amir Timur, Timur-i-Lenk, Timur Lang, etc) was essentially a murderer and a tyrant whose empire was mostly held together by his, well, murderous tyranny. One of his signature moves, so I read, was to level cities with populations of thousands and then plant a field of barley over it to remind people that he had the power to completely erase a place off the map. His name might have some aesthetic appeal, but the guy is kind of a monstrous historical figure who very much so owns the name Tamerlane. I wouldn't encourage using it.

Oops! Double post! Sorry!

This message was edited 8/1/2007, 11:53 AM