Very early on in this blog, I laid out the rules for naming the daughter, most of which were negative:
*No name in the top 10 in the Social Security list of most popular names for the most recent year available.
*No naming after any family member, living or dead.
*No unisex names…This comes directly from the fact that my father AND my sister were both named Leslie.
*No single-syllable names; it had to have two or more syllables, to balance off the shortness of Green.
*No names that easily went to the nickname.
*It should have a recognizable spelling.
*No names beginning and ending with A. We have nieces named Alexandria, Adrianna, and Alexa.
But I should have emphasized more how much I liked the name, Lydia. I like that it has three syllables but only five letters; very efficient. I actually didn’t notice at the time, but I like that she has the same initials as my late father.
And I like that it’s not only a Biblical name but a New Testament name.
From Acts 16 (NIV):
13 On the Sabbath we [Paul and his companions] went outside the city gate to the river, where we expected to find a place of prayer. We sat down and began to speak to the women who had gathered there. 14 One of those listening was a woman from the city of Thyatira named Lydia, a dealer in purple cloth. She was a worshiper of God. The Lord opened her heart to respond to Paul’s message. 15 When she and the members of her household were baptized, she invited us to her home. “If you consider me a believer in the Lord,” she said, “come and stay at my house.” And she persuaded us.
So Lydia was a woman of means, she was hospitable and she had faith, something I hoped for my daughter, who seems to have the latter two, and she likes purple to boot.
This post made me smile. Lydia is a beautiful name. As for that nickname…
Of course, the first thing I thought of was the song, “Lydia, the Tattooed Lady,” made famous by Groucho Marx! But it is a lovely name. I had a dilemma with my daughter, since her surname was going to be her dad’s, Weinberger. Had to go short – who wants to be Alexandra Weinberger? The whole name never would fit on a standard form. So I chose another song, “Laura”: Laura/is the face in the misty light/footsteps that you hear down the hall… the melody was written for the Gene Tierney movie, but only after the tune became famous was the great Johnny Mercer called in to provide lyrics. And even then, Spike Jones’ version began, “Laura is the face on the barroom floor…”! Ha ha. Great story, Roger. Amy
http://sharplittlepencil.wordpress.com/2011/06/27/who-really-needs-the-shrink/
Just had to comment on this post as my maiden name is LIDSTER! Not a name we hear very often over here, but I understand there are a lot of them in Northumberland.