Are you ready for a super-long&nerdy post?

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

If you are,
Last night my BF and I were joking around and we currently have a line from the movie Into the wild that we like to use with each other, which is "you are the apple of my eye".
For those of you who haven't watched the movie, you should, cause it's great, but anyway, what is funny about that line is that it's a pun in the movie, as the guy says it to a big precious apple that he's savouring in the countryside.

It's even funnier in italian, because we do have an equivalent phrase that literally tranlates to "you are the light of my eyes", so in order for his pun to make sense, in the italian version the line became "you are the apple-light of my eyes" ("sei la luce-mela dei miei occhi"). I guess it's the "apple-light" that sounds funny to us! But I don't know, we're crazy people lol.

Anyway, my boyfriend suggested that we should name our daughter (currently not conceived) "apple", so I digged out all the dictionaries I have and came up with the word for "apple" in hungarian, which is Alma. Suprisingly also a legit, but not common, name in many languages, including italian. Then we discovered a number of additional possible meanings:

Latin: nourishing
Spanish: soul
Hungarian: wild apple
Arabic: learned
Hebrew: maiden, young (we found it was used by Isaiah in the Bible to refer to Rebekah)

..And we liked it even more. He loves it and vowed it will be our daughter's name.
I do love all the background behind it, but I'm not sure I'm crazy about how it sounds, although it could grow on me. I've never been too fond of short names, like Anna, because they risk sounding plain, although I do love Azra.

I would also be concerned that it could be teased or create some problems for being similar to some italian words, such as:
"calma" ("calm" in italian, imagine the phrase "Calm down, Alma", which would become "Alma, stai calma", kind of a silly rhyme)
"arma" ("weapon")
"mamma" ("mommy")
"salma" ("cadaver")

I'm sure I'm overthinking it, but I wanted to hear it from you guys :P
Also, I can't come up with nicknames of any kind, so suggestions are reaaaaally appreciated, as well as comments and opinions, of course! (either on the name, or just on how insane we are :P)

THANKS!!! It was really sweet of you to make it this far in the entry :P !!!!

Comments

Baby Apple

[crossingthesea.livejournal.com]

I was recently thinking about fruit names, so this post is right up my... orchard.

You may want to check in with Gwyneth Paltrow on this one as she got a ton of flak for naming her little one Apple (although admittedly in English it does sound strange as the actual word "apple" does not sound as onomatopoetic as it might). They said they chose it because an apple was fresh and healthy and rosy.

Re: Baby Apple

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

hehe my first thought did go to Gwnyneth Paltrow's daughter!
I think it sounds strange for the reason you stated :)
Noun names should be concealed under a different, less obvious name.

But in her defense, Apple does sound nice :P

Re: Baby Apple

[crossingthesea.livejournal.com]

Agreed, I like the idea of a name with a great meaning, but that's not stare-you-down-obvious.

[joereaves.livejournal.com]

I quite like it, but I'm not looking at it from an Italian POV. It's a very old fashioned English name.

I might ask my Italian partner in crime (once she gets to work and logs into an IM program) and see what she thinks.

Maybe if you're not as keen as he is you could make it her middle name or something?

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

It is old fashioned, isn't it?
I had the same feeling, I think one of my school friends had a granny named Alma.

BF doesn't really care about the middle name thing, although he has two middle names by the catholic tradition, but I guess in the end he would let that up to me. But I don't think he would be in for "downgrading" it to a middle name, right now he likes it too much! haha I guess we'll see.

Also, I can't seem to think of any middle names to go with it, because I feel like mostly anything overshadows such a simple name. Maybe it's meant stand alone in all its glory lol

[joereaves.livejournal.com]

Hmm, how about Alma Elizabeth or something along those lines. Something longer but fairly simple and a little old fashioned.

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

That would totally fit my style.
I have names on my list along the lines of that :)

Maybe Alma Sophia?

I'm now glancing at my list and I'm surprised how many names I have on here that resemble Alma lol
Ambra
Asa
Azra
Ava

Haha I didn't realize I had a thing for short names beginning and ending in A ..and still, I never would have thought of Alma myself!

[joereaves.livejournal.com]

I like Alma Sophia, it flows really well.

(and I hate almost all your other A names, lol, sorry. Ava's nice)

[freezemyazaleas.livejournal.com]

I like Ambra a lot but not the rest of them.

[xpaniic.livejournal.com]

I really like Alma Elizabeth.

[joereaves.livejournal.com]

Oh and my Italian partner in crime says it's a pretty name and of kids want to tease someone they'll find something no matter what so don't worry too much about the rhymes.

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

I totally agree about kids teasing no matter what!
I once tried to explain that to my partner, when he over-reacted to my suggestion of Sibilla for a girl's name (italian version of Sybil). He said it was going to bring on the teasing because it's too rare. But he seems fine with Alma, which is just as rare, so go figure haha.

I'm glad your friend likes it! :)

[0o-faerie.livejournal.com]

I'm not so crazy about the name Alma, because most names (here) that end in -ma are pretty old fashioned.

That said...I love all the background/stories behind it! =P
I think it could be one of those names you start to like more everytime you hear it.

Nicknames...I can only come up with the boring (but cute, IMO): Allie.

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

Heheh thanks for liking the background! :D
Yeah, I agree about it being old fashioned, I get the same vibe.
Luckily, I tend to like old fashioned names on newborns, so there's great chance I won't see it that way later on.

Thanks for the middle name suggestion! Allie/Ally/Ali (A-lee) were the first ones I thought of too, the problem is that BF's name is Alessandro and if even we pretty much go only by pet names with each other, if I adress him by his name I shorten it to Ale (AL-ay). So I'm afraid it could be too close in sound, and confusing, especially to a child.

[sweatydog.livejournal.com]

I love it! And I love your story behind it.

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

Aww thank you so much! :))

[quite-rosie.livejournal.com]

Alma! I like it!

[politicking.livejournal.com]

i think Alma is a very pretty name that goes well on a young child or adult. i also like all the meanings of it.

there are a lot of names that rhyme, or are similiar to other words... but kids are going to get teased for things, regardless of it their name rhymes/sounds like other words, you know?

[emtotherescuee.livejournal.com]

Alma is a nice name, it just reminds me of some sort of goat-like creature. Oh, I sound terrible! I don't know why it reminds of of that, it just does:\.

I like Azra better, but if Alma sounds good to you, then use it!:]

[th3-unicorn.livejournal.com]

hhahah the goat creature is quite hilarious :D

who knows.. maybe she will be born a Capricorn and what will make sense :)
hehe that might just happen, both our families have a prevalence of members born under that sign!

[classiestkid.livejournal.com]

I love it!