Email Me!

Email me questions, comments, or post ideas!
nameaholic@gmail.com

Thursday, June 27, 2013

Deft or Daft? - Coriander

So this is the first post of a series that will pop up now and then were I throw out some "out there" ideas for names that I either see somewhere, or pop into my head.

First up is Coriander!

Depending on your background, Coriander might strike you first as just a strange word, or if you know your cooking, a spice. It is the seed of the Cilantro plant and is used in a lot of wonderful dishes. With other spices and herb names making an appearance in the naming world (think Sage, Cayenne, and Ginger), why not this beauty?

I see it as a boys name. It shares a rhythm/style with Alexander, and if broken down can actually be seen as a compound name of Corey and Ander. Corey is an Old Norse surname currently ranked 351. Anders is a Scandinavian version of Andrew, meaning Lion, and is ranked 900th.

I don't think Coriander would stick out as odd due to these familiar components, but it would be a unique name. What do you think? Deft or Daft?


6 comments:

  1. It's a bit of a close call... Personally I like the sound, but would probably avoid spelling it the same way! There was a Mr Coreander in 'The NeverEnding Story' (he was the bookshop owner) which sounds exactly the same, so I think I'd be more likely to use Coreander before Coriander :)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Hmmm ... I'd probably say this is on the daft side. In Australia, we call the whole plant coriander, leaves and all, so it seems a bit like calling a kid Parsley or Dill.

    Despite its similarities to masculine names, to me this feels feminine. I can't exactly explain why, it just sounds like a whimsical poetic fairy princess sort of name, like Moonbeam or Gossamer.

    ReplyDelete
  3. If I were going to use it, it would be a girl's name. I actually don't mind it.

    ReplyDelete
  4. I think I'd also use it as a feminine name. Love the nick name cori :)

    though i do like the boys version with Anders as a nickname....

    All around, i like it!

    Lekt

    ReplyDelete
  5. I like Coriander. I've actually used it as a name for one of my characters, a male character. I think it fits in pretty well- it can't be any weirder than, say, Basil, now can it?

    ReplyDelete
  6. I'm pretty sure there's a YA novel called I, Coriander so it's not *too* crazy!

    ReplyDelete