There's a girl in another class whose name was on a class sheet in the corridor today: Anna Pantelejmona. I guess it could be written Panteleimona as well. I've never met her but have a friend who's met her in the common area who swears she's "from some Slavic country, Bulgaria or something"... gah. Useful. Verry useful for my name creeping. I've always thought Bulgarian names worked like Russian names, and from the class table-sheet layout it could either be "First name: Anna, Middle name: Pantelejmona" or "First nameS: Anna Pantelejmona / Anna-Pantelejmona" and there isn't a patronymic or other given name in sight. Hmm. And to be honest, I've spend quite some time in Bulgaria and never come across Pantelejmona, which doesn't really help much, so I'm stumped.
Anyway, what do you think? Gotta say, not a fan. It spices up Anna but they seem completely mismatched side by side. Completely put off by the Pant- bit in the name, and isn't Panteleimon Lyra's daemon in Pullman's Dark Materials series? I just think they don't flow and on a person Panteleimona especially looks weird and hyper religious and pretentious and just plain odd. And this is me saying it. Hm.
Also, boy is it hard to say. That end 'a' throws me off completely. But what do you think? Do you agree, or do you think it's usable in any way? It's definitely interesting.
A little thought is that Panteleimon would be adorable on a pet - a kitty or something. What do you think? I fought so hard to name our newest feline addition Pandemonium/Pandaemonium (and lost) because I thought Pan was the most adorable nickname ever and Pandemonium was delightfully rambunctious and long and easy to mispronounce and full of nicknames. Pan works for Panteleimon too, doesn't it? And I like the Pant bit for a pet, because embarrassing nicknames on cats are just amazing and I wouldn't be able to resist calling him Pant and Pansty and Knickers. Because I'm odd. But is it a bit wordy and pretentious, or too Philip-Pullman-series-fan-esque? I don't think it works on a person, but do you think it does - or do you think a cat could pull it off just as well?
Many thanks :D