Animal Names?

[cosmos-calling.livejournal.com]

What do you think of naming a baby a name that is also the name of a species of animal?

I am thinking specifically of the name "Kestrel", (for a boy).

By the way, Kestrels are a type of falcon. Is it weird to name a child after an animal? I first thought of this name without knowing if it even existed on any level, and was surprised that is was bird, and more surprised that I may have even seen an American Kestrel, since there are plenty of birds like that around here.

What do you think of the name Kestrel? Does it make a difference that it is an animal name? (I don't know of any humans being named Kestrel.)

Comments

[laura-anne.livejournal.com]

I'm going to go against the grain here, and say my (unvoiced) reaction to meeting someone called Kestrel would pretty much be "WTF, why are you named after a bird? What were your parents on when they named you?"

Bird associations aside (and for me they are *hard* to put aside), I don't actually like it as a name, I'm not fond of the way it sounds.

But hey, most people seem to like it, and you can't please everyone.