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What ancient names, if any, would you name a child nowadays?
From harrumphing, get-your-hippy-names-away-from-me answers such as Why do English-speaking people often have strange first names? and Is Khalisi a weird name for a baby?, you will have surmised correctly that I would only go with ancient names that have survived in modern times.
Or been revived in modern times. Ιn Greece, the difference matters: Helen had survived as a saint’s name, Achilles or Odysseus were revived.
So I can’t answer the question as requested in details—
I don’t mean lists of ancient names which have ‘survived’ in modern times (Jason, Helen, etc), I mean unusual ones — from any culture!
—because I wouldn’t do that myself.
But cool names from antiquity, which is what the question details are asking for?
I learned Greek Mythology from the humorist Nikos Tsiforos, as I’ve mentioned a dozen times; and when he was going through the pantheon of minor sea deities, he pointed out one name in particular as lovely. And I agreed with him then as now.
Benthesicyme. Βενθεσικύμη. “Wave of the sea depths.”
Actually, pretend you don’t know the etymology. (And I didn’t know about Benthos until a lot later in life.)
Benthesicyme.
Utterly impractical as a name. (I mean, what would you nickname her? Bennie?)
And utterly lovely. Like an invocation.
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