Buddhist Catholic Contemplative Evangelical General Christian Hindu Jewish Latter-day Saint Muslim New Visions Progressive Christian

Beliefs

Topics

Columnists

Resource Library

Research Tools

Video

Podcasts

Thought Readers

Faith In Media Tracker

Newsletters

Ad-Free & Subscriber Log-In Subscription Support

Follow Patheos

Letters from the Edge of Elfland

Home
Catholic
The Importance of Names: What We Named Our Sons

The Importance of Names: What We Named Our Sons

Last updated on: May 24, 2014 at 12:41 pm by David Russell Mosley

The Importance of Names: What We Named Our Sons 2014-05-24T12:41:21-04:00 David Russell Mosley

LOGO Patheos Explore the world's faith through different perspectives on religion and spirituality! Patheos has the views of the prevalent religions and spiritualities of the world.

David Russell Mosley

Theodore (Left) and Edwyn (Right)

24 May 2014

On the Edge of Elfland

Beeston, Nottinghamshire

Dear Friends and Family,

I’m sorry I haven’t written lately. For those who don’t know, my wife just gave birth to our twin boys on 1 May 2014. We’re excited, tired (exhausted really), and learning what this parenting thing is all about. Today, I wanted to write to you about my sons’ names.

I’m not sure when I first learned that names have meaning. I’m sure it was around the time I became a Christian (around 13 years old) and started reading the Bible. The etymologies of names in the Old Testament opened my eyes to the fact that most names are words in a given language with a given meaning. Once I learned this, naming became incredibly important to me. It seems to me, though I haven’t developed a philosophy or theology of this yet, that names are important. Names have an effect on the thing named. Whether its the etymology or history (others so named) naming, when taken seriously, I think will affect the life of a child.

Therefore, my wife and I did not enter into naming our children lightly. We had settled rather early on that our firstborn boy would be called Theodore which means gift of God (for most meanings, I rely on the website behindthename.com). So, let me tell you about our boys’ names, why we chose them, and what they mean.

Our firstborn, who came into the world at 12:36, is called Theodore Nicholas George Mosley.

Theodore

I already mentioned what Theodore means (gift of God, from Latin). We wanted to ensure that our firstborn was dedicated to God. No matter the roles we played in bringing our children into the world, they are still a gift from God.

Nicholas

Nicholas is Greek in origin and means victory of the people. This name we didn’t chose precisely for its etymology (though I could easily theologise it). Rather we chose it because our church here in Nottingham and the saint whose name it bears. St Nicholas was a fourth century bishop from what is today Turkey (he was bishop of Myra). His feast day is 6 December. He was known for his generosity and his defense of Nicene orthodoxy. As it would happen, however, Nicholas is also the masculine form and the source for my mother-in-law’s name Collette.

George

George is another Greek name and means farmer. This is a rather fitting name given both that I come from farming stock. However, this name was chosen more specifically for two reasons. The primary reason is it is the name of my late maternal grandfather. Grandpa George, whom I only had the privilege of knowing until I was about seven, was an excellent man. I loved going with him in the morning to raise the flag in his elderly community. We also chose this name because of the patron saint of England. St George was a Cappadocian born Christian who, according to tradition, rebuked Diocletian for persecuting Christians. He was subsequently tortured and martyred for the faith. His feast day is 23 April. George is also known as a dragon slayer, which makes him all the more an excellent namesake for boys of mine.

Our second son, who came into the world at 12:37, is called Edwyn Arthur Russell Mosley.

Edwyn

Edwyn is Anglo-Saxon in origin and means bliss friend. In some folklore, and particularly in the early works of Tolkien, is often paired with the name Alfwin (Ælfwine, Alvin, Elwin, etc.) which means elf-friend. That alone would make it (if not Elwin) an excellent name for one of my children. However, even more so, it is the name of a Northumbrian Anglo-Saxon king and saint (St Edwin). Yet there is one more reason we chose it. My father-in-law’s name is Edward (bliss-guard) and we wanted to represent him in our names as well, so both are Ed (bliss).

Arthur

Arthur is one of those names where we don’t know what it means. It could be Welsh in origin and mean bear; it could be from the Roman surname Arturius. Whatever the case, we chose it as representing our time here in England since it is the name of perhaps the most famous king who ever lived on this island.

Russell

Russell is French in origin. It comes from a French surname meaning little red one. Now it seems unlikely Edwyn will be a ginger (though he and his brother may have some in their beards as I do). This is, however, my middle name is the first name of my father. We wanted to make sure that represented our families as much as possible.

Mosley/Perkins/Peterson

Our surname is Mosley which is English surname meaning, probably, the mossy lea, or the mouse’s lea. However, this is an adopted surname. When my father was about a year old his father died and his mother remarried a man called Mosley. Originally, my father’s surname was Perkins, a Welsh surname which means son or kin of Peter. Coincidentally, my wife’s maiden name is Peterson (though not spelled the usual way, her maiden name is Danish in origin), which of course means the same thing.

Names are important, and our children have been named after kings, saints, and family. What effect these names will have on them I cannot predict. I can say, however, that being so dedicated to God and named after those who were as well, they will undoubtedly in some way help bring God’s kingdom to Earth as we await Christ’s return.

Sincerely yours,

David Russell Mosley

P.S. It is also important that by sheer happenstance, when we named our boys Theodore and Edwyn, we had not realised at first that we had given them excellent twin nicknames, Teddy and Eddy.

Previous Post

May 20, 2014

Shakespeare Reading Schedule

Next Post

May 29, 2014 My Writing Processes: A Blog Hop

Browse Our Archives

Select a Category A Secular Age Advent Apologetics Atheism Beauty Being a Catholic Evangelical Being Catholic Being Deified: Poetry and Fantasy on the Path to God Blogging Book Reviews C. S. Lewis Catholic Imagination Catholic Social Teaching Catholicism Christmas Church Calendar Church Fathers Church Life Community Conferences Cosmology Creation Curdled Words Deification Distributism Easter Economics Education Epiphany Essay Extracts Eucharist Faerie Faeriean Metaphysics Fatherhood Films Folk Liturgy Food and Drink G. K. Chesterton Harry Potter J. R. R. Tolkien Jove King Arthur Language Lent Life Literature and Poetry Liturgy Medieval Theology Music My Publications Mythology On the Edges of Elfland Ordinary Time Ordination Parenthood Parish Patristic Theology Pentecost Politics Prayer Racism Radical Orthodoxy Restoration Movement Sacramental Ontology Saints Science Sex and Sexuality Sophiology Stories The Inklings The Radical Catholic Reimagination of Everything Theologians in the Church Theopoetics Thesis Research Uncategorized University of Nottingham What I'm Reading Writing

Select a Month December 2019 November 2019 October 2019 September 2019 August 2019 July 2019 June 2019 May 2019 April 2019 March 2019 February 2019 January 2019 December 2018 November 2018 October 2018 September 2018 August 2018 July 2018 June 2018 May 2018 April 2018 March 2018 February 2018 January 2018 December 2017 November 2017 October 2017 August 2017 July 2017 June 2017 May 2017 April 2017 March 2017 February 2017 January 2017 December 2016 November 2016 October 2016 September 2016 August 2016 July 2016 June 2016 May 2016 April 2016 March 2016 February 2016 January 2016 December 2015 November 2015 October 2015 September 2015 August 2015 July 2015 June 2015 May 2015 April 2015 March 2015 February 2015 January 2015 December 2014 November 2014 October 2014 September 2014 August 2014 July 2014 June 2014 May 2014 April 2014 March 2014 February 2014 January 2014 December 2013 November 2013 October 2013 September 2013 August 2013 July 2013 June 2013 May 2013 April 2013 March 2013 February 2013 January 2013 December 2012 November 2012 October 2012 September 2012 July 2012

TAKE THE

Religious Wisdom Quiz