Message: "Easter" - Behind the Name

[Opinions] Easter

by mizzchable (guest)

9/19/2005, 3:39 PM

my friend's sister is planning to adopt a daughter around Easter time and so she decided that her name would be Easter. do you think this is a good name? i thought it was pushing religion on the child but WDYT?

#Easter

Replies

- Elinor (Elly747)

9/20/2005, 8:14 AM

In the circles I move in, Easter isn't specifically a Christian celebration, so I don't think it forces religion on the child at all. Most things associated with it are pre-Christian - the eggs, the Easter bunny, the celebrations of springtime. Apart from those who do Lent, people I know wouldn't be overwhelmed with religious connotations at all.

I actually quite like Easter as a girls name' :-)

_____________________________________________________________________

♥Elinor♥

"Actually, guns do kill people. Ever tried slapping a person to death?"

This message was edited 9/20/2005, 8:15 AM

- Laurie (guest)

9/20/2005, 7:18 AM

Easter isn't a name, would she name her child St. Patrick's Day or Fourth of July?

If she wants a Christian name she could go with Mary, Anne, Elizabeth etc.

Or she could even go with something like Lily, which makes me think of Easter lillies.

- Jewel (Jewelie)

9/19/2005, 6:11 PM

I would be more inclined to name a girl Rachel which means "ewe". Lamb is highly symbolic at Easter.

Easter is not flattering at all.

- chazda +2

9/19/2005, 5:32 PM

Yes, I think it's fine, because the origin of the name is quite pagan, in fact, and precedes the Christian festival. (Check it out: Easter) So it doesn't have a religious meaning like, say, Christmas does.

However, if she wants to avoid any names that might suggest piety to the pious, I suppose Easter would be one to avoid.

- chazda

This message was edited 9/19/2005, 5:32 PM

- Cass +1

9/19/2005, 7:33 PM

But Eostre was the name of a goddess, even at that--the word as a word may not have a religious meaning, but it certainly did at one point. Which makes it doubly weird to use as a personal name honoring a different religion--and, as has been noted, mileage may vary on any explicitly religious name.

Word-names tend to veer toward the cheesy anyway, in my opinion, and your friend would probably do better with Agnes, Lily, Rachel, or Pascale. Even April would be a marginally better name, and that's the month in which Easter falls next year.

- chazda

9/19/2005, 10:23 PM

Hehee.

So was Diana the name of a goddess, and Bridget and Chloe and Rhiannon and Irene and Tanith and Freya and Vesta refer to goddesses too..

So "having a religious meaning at one point" does not really make a name honor the religion it derived from. That's a bit silly, isn't it? The problem was that Easter refers to a Christian holiday - albeit one coopted from paganism - it's immediately perceived as Christian now, so the name Easter would be superficially perceived as "honoring" Christianity. I guess that's all that matters, though.

- chazda the pedantic

- Nikida

9/19/2005, 4:37 PM

That would be like naming a child Christmas if they were born during that time of year. Or Thanksgiving....just not a good idea.

Lily would still be symbolic but subtle.

- Eilis (Suibhne) +1

9/19/2005, 4:07 PM

I absolutely do not like it.

For one, the sound of the word "Easter" has always reminded me of the word "yeast." :-/

For another, I think your point about it pushing religion on a child is true. It at least would give me the automatic first impression of a Christian, so even if it wasn't influencing the child it would be a big influence on how other people might see her. This doesn't always matter, but it's still something to consider.

More subtly connected names, I think, would be better. Agnes and its variants would, for instance, represent a lamb (symbol of Christ). One could use Lily (for the Easter lily). Names of people associated with the life or resurrection of Jesus (Mary, Magdelene, etc) could also work. Granted these things are still all religious and tie into Easter, but they're more subtle and less... well, they're not "Easter."

For the third, I think naming children after the month or holiday they're born in or around is just tacky. You can get away with naming a child after a season, I think (ie: a girl named Winter who was born in February) because seasons are such large things that encompass so much time. But holidays are specific days with, as you've mentioned before, often some kind of religious meaning. Attaching your child to that idea and that day is not something I would want to do.