Names with negative connotations

[bugamok.livejournal.com]

This post brought to you by the recent obsession with the name Loki.

Does anyone actually read the mythology behind Loki? He is one nasty, evil god. Why would you want to name yout kid that? Even if you just view him as a necessary trickster/badguy in the lore, he still ends up chained to a rock with his son's entrails and venom dripping onto his face. He gets to stay like that until the end of the world, according to the mythology. What a lovely story to tell your kid about his name.

I, for one, could never give a child a name with a historically negative connotation. Juliet even bugs me because she does (spoiler!) kill herself at the end of the play, after all. Ophelia, same sort of issue. Damian, Lucifer, and related names are all awful in my opinion and should doom the parents to a hellion of a child. (Don't anyone get the idea that Hellion's a lovely name.) Same with Adolf.

If Lolita's okay (not that I think so) then why aren't people offering up Humbert as a boy's name? Humbert Humbert is a great literary figure, after all. And Bert is such a nice nickname.

So in conclusion:
1) What's your opinion on using names with negative backgrounds?
2) Any other good examples of names with bad history?

Comments

[bugamok.livejournal.com]

Evangeline comes from the poem by Longellow. It's about the forced deportation of Acadians (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acadian) from Canada by the English in 1755. My family is Acadian, so I have a bit of attachment to the name.

It does have the same roots as evangelical (bringing/bearer of good news) so your dislike is understandable.

So why do you like Loki even with the back story? Friendly curiosity, not attacking, promise. :)

[swiftheartlu.livejournal.com]

I want to call my child Odin and watch him kill everything in sight.

[bugamok.livejournal.com]

Dude, you totally have to get him pet ravens.

[swiftheartlu.livejournal.com]

And a friend called Thor that can poke fun at him and call him a one-eyed cocksucker.
Because, y'know, it's a term of endearment.

[bugamok.livejournal.com]

You just know that's in the super-secret version of the myths. Thor wasn't known for being delicate, after all.

[swiftheartlu.livejournal.com]

Thor wasn't known for doing ANYTHING except hitting things with a hammer. Oh, and screwing Freya. But then again, who didn't?!

[bugamok.livejournal.com]

Hey, sometimes he wandered around the woods *while* hitting things with his hammer. Thor, he was a complex man, er god.

Freya could be part of a modern rap song. She was all about the bling, after all.

[swiftheartlu.livejournal.com]

Oh, and he liked smiting. Don't forget the smiting.

Freya was just a slut.
Not quite as bad as Aphrodite/Venus but still a slut.

Nice to know that the majority of religions have their ethos built on sleeping around and smacking people upside their heads with bits of mountains.

[godmod.livejournal.com]

I actually know a little boy named Thor! Thor Alexander.

[bugamok.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I love Nordic names, too. I'm a big mythology geek. I've just made a promise to myself to only inflict my geekery on pets. :) Otherwise things could get out of hand and I'd end up with Athena Frig Spider or some such.