This week's match-ups: 4 Amelia vs 5 Lavinia from the "Pop Culture" region, and 4 Salvadora vs 5 Seona (see-oh-nah) from the "S-Names" region.
Gar: This week's matches are pretty interesting. Amelia is a reference to the great Amelia Earhart: aviation pioneer, women's rights advocate, and adventurer. She was intelligent, spirited, and courageous enough to follow her dreams even though she lived in a culture and society that was not ready for a woman like her. I would love for Baby Girl Chan to have the same traits! As for Salvadora and Seona, both of these S-names could easily be in our Biblical category as well. Salvadora means "savior", while Seona means "God is gracious." I like both names, but based upon meaning AND sound, I'll go with Seona.
Shiv: The meaning of Siobhan is "God is gracious" too. I do like Salvadora and Garrett said that we can call her "Sally" for short. =) (He just said that as I am writing my response to his.) It is a tough choice. I would have to say that I would prefer Seona as well. It just rolls off the tongue better. As for the "Pop Culture" region, Lavinia is in homage to Downton Abbey. Yes, she was a character who kept our two favorite characters from being together, but Mary didn't fit with our name bracket. We know of many amazing Mary's but Lavinia was more unique. Lavinia Chan... doesn't that sound great, Garrett?
Gar: While I will concede to Downton Abbey being gangsta, I don't think "Lavinia Chan" sounds that great. What will we call her for short? La-La? Nia? Vinny? I looked up the meaning of the name and it's a reference to the legendary mother of the Roman people, or possibly, an ancient city. Again, not as cool as Amelia. Sorry.
Shiv: The Germanic meaning of Amelia is "work, effort, strain." I like work and effort but strain just sounds odd. Think about Amelia Bedelia. She didn't know there is more than one meaning for words. Yes, she is a great children's book character to teach students lessons about vocabulary but she would be forever known as the character who dressed the chicken in a dress!
Vote for your choices in the comments below!
Here's a link to the Baby Girl Chan's name bracket.
Seona!
ReplyDeleteI am SELFISHLY, SELFISHLY, SELFISHLY voting for Lavinia. Just in case I accidentally get knocked up and my theoretical nonexistent spawn is a girl. So Lavinia. Although Amelia Chan sounds nice. Crap.
ReplyDeleteI like Seona, but I'm going to need a pronunciation guide for it. I love that the meaning is the same as yours, Shiv. A LOT. Salvadora just makes me think of El Salvador, and I don't have any particular warm fuzzies for that as a place name.
Lavinia. Amelia is an uber cute name, but is WAY too popular in recent years for a family of uniquely named people. Plus, for some reason I just think it rolls off the tongue better when put together with Chan. Gar - I'd go with Nia as her nickname.
ReplyDeleteSeona without a doubt. It sounds beautiful with Chan, it totally fits with family names. "Gideon and Salvadora" is just too much of a mouthful...and, gosh, how many more syllables could you spend if you had more kids? ;) Seona is a beautiful name...maybe the best of bracket so far.
Amelia - Because St.Lavinia (much like St.Bates http://www.tucsonweekly.com/TheRange/archives/2012/02/17/idiot-boksen-10-things-i-hate-about-downton-abbey) makes me a little nauseous. I love the connotative meaning of Amelia (also the name of Hudson Taylor's amazing wife). B'sides, Amelia is easy to pronounce. Can you see CBC popo's calling her "La-weeny-ah"?
ReplyDeleteSeona - LOVE that her name is the same meaning as Siobhan's! Again, "Sah-wah-doh-la." That is all.
Ugh... That m name is haunting me... I will have to try to be more convincing the next round... Doesn't my vote count more??? ;)
ReplyDeleteLavinia. Keeping the Wong tradition of being named after tv characters... We are a tv family ;)
Seona. Hands down. Beautiful name. :)
Amelia, Amelia, Amelia! I love the image that it conveys, super easy to pronounce, and is unique enough that folks "get it" without having to ask a bunch of questions about it.
ReplyDeleteSeona wins. Salvadora also reminds me of El Salvador...
I choose Seona and Amelia. Amelia is my bestie!
ReplyDeleteAmelia and Seona
ReplyDeleteThe winners are: Amelia and Seona!!!
ReplyDeleteplease don't name her Lavinia. I really didn't like that character in Downton Abbey! plus, I don't know of a single Amelia so I don't think it's that common of a name.
ReplyDeletemy vote is definitely for seona... it's got great meaning, sounds good with chan and i think pretty easy to pronounce too... and it's pretty!
Words and names with the letter "v" causes havoc for Asians whose primary language is not English. That's just an excuse to reject Lavinia & Salvadora. However, I do like all four names in this match-up. In the end I'm voting for Amelia & Seona.
ReplyDeleteAmelia reminds me of a French movie called Amelie. It's about a shy waitress who pursues her goal of helping others hoping to bring a bit of happiness into their lives. It's a whimsical & charming movie.
Seona is a variation of Joanna which is also where Siobhan comes from. For that alone I'm really attached to Seona. The meaning (God is gracious) and the sound of the name clinches it for me.
Eugene
My votes are for Amelia and Seona. Seona and Gideon sound good together ... then you have an S and a G to go with your S and G!
ReplyDelete