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Posts Tagged ‘Brin’

Fromage Formidable — it’s a bit Cheesy

Posted in Alternative Names, French Names, Llewellyn's Complete Book of Names, Names, Pagan-friendly, Unisex Names, Unusual Names, tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , on September 30, 2011 | 2 Comments »

I’m a great believer in seeking inspiration everywhere for names — not necessarily just for babies, but for anything else you might wish to name, from pets to garden gnomes.

I’m also a fan of cheese. Indeed, one of my cats is named after a cheese — my very fluffy Ragdoll, Stilton.

My favorite cheeses, however, are French, and I happened across a book of French cheeses the other day, full of redolent cheesy names.

Some really are quite alluring; and since Brie is already in use as a girl’s name, well… take a look at these:

Abondance, Aisy Cendré, Aligot, (Fromage) Allégé, (Chevrotin d’) Alpage, Ambert, Ami (du Chambertin), (Poivre d’) Âne, (Bûchette d’) Anjou, Anneau (de Vic-Bilh), Apérobic, (Chevrotin des) Aravis, (Picodon de l’) Ardèche, (Brique) Ardéchoise, Ardi-Gasna, (Fromage de Chèvre) Ariège, (Tomme d’) Arles, (Coeur d’) Arras, Aubisque (Pyrénées), (Pavé d’) Auge, Autun, (Bleu d’) Auvergne, (Tomme de l’) Aveyron, (Boulette d’) Avesnes, Bamalou, (Bûchette de) Banon, Bargkass, Barousse, (Chevrette des) Bauges, (Le Petit) Bayard, Beaufort, Beaujolais (Pur Chèvre), Beaumont, (Abbaye de) Belloc, (Trappe de) Belval, Bergues, (Coeur de) Berry, (Brebis du) Bersend, Besace (de Pur Chèvre), Bethmale, (Galet de) Bigorre, Bigoton, Bilou du Jura, (Fromage) Blanc, Bleu, Bondard, Bonde, Bondon, Bonjura, (Le) Bouca, Boudane, (Tomme du) Bougnat, Bougon, (La) Bouille, (Le) Bourricot, Boursault, Boursin, Brebis, Bressan, Bresse (Bleu), Breuil, Brie, Brillat-Savarin, Brin d’Amour, Broccio, Brocciu, Brousse du Rove, Cabécou, Cabrioulet, Cachaille, Cachat, (Le Pic de la) Calabasse, Calenzana, (Boulette de) Cambrai, Camembert, Cancoillote, Canelle, Cantal, (Tomme) Capra, Capri Lezéen, Caprice des Dieux, Capricorne de Jarjat, Carré (de l’Est), (Le) Cathalain, (Brebis Frais du) Caussedou, (Bleu des) Causses, (Brebis le) Cayolar, (Fromage) Cendré, Cervelle de Canut, (Pélardon de) Cevennes, Chabichou, Chabis, (Trappiste de) Chambaran,  Chaource, Charolais, Charolles, Chaumes, (Crottin de) Chavignol, Chèvre, (Abbaye de) Citeaux, Civray, Clacbitou, Claqueret Lyonnais, Clochette, (Rigotte de Sainte) Colombe, (Grand) Colombier des Aillons, Comté, (Rigotte de) Condrieu, (Pélardon de) Corbières, (Le) Cornilly, (Briquette de) Coubon, Couhé-Vérac, (Brie de) Coulommiers, (Bleu de) Costaros, (Abbaye de) Coudre, (Tomme de) Courchevel, (Picodon de) Crest, Crottin, Croupet, (Bouton de) Culotte, Curé Nantais, Dauphin, (Picodon du) Dauphiné, Délice de Saint-Cyr, (Picodon de) Dieulefit, Dreux (à la Feuille), (Picodon de la) Drôme, (Rigotte d’) Echalas, (Trappe) Echourgnac, Emmental, Epoisses, Esbareich, Explorateur, Faisselle (de Chèvre), (Tomme du) Faucigny, (Saint) Félicien, (Chèvre) Fermier, (Banon à la) Feuille, Figue, Filetta, Fin-de-Siècle, Fontainebleu, (Brique du) Forez, (Fromage) Fort, (Le) Fougerus, (Chèvre/Fromage) Frais, Frimault, Galet, Galette (de Monts du Lyonnais), Gaperon, Gardian, Gargantua (à la Feuille de Sauge), Gastanberra, (Bleu de) Gex, (Pavé de la) Ginestarié, Gournay Frais, (Cabécou de) Gramat, Grataron d’Arèches, Gratte-Paille, Greuilh, Gris (de Lille), Guerbigny, (Fromage d’) Hesdin, (Fromage du) Jas, (Abbaye de la) Joie, Lacandou, (Bleu de) Lacqueuille, Laguiole, (Bleu de) Langeac, Langres, Laruns, (Fromage de Chèvre) Larzac, (Fromage de Montagne de) Lège, Levroux, (Boule de) Lille, Livarot, (Brebis du) Lochois, (Chèvre de la) Loire, (Tomme de) Lomagne, Lou Magré, Lou Pennol, (Bleu de) Loudes, Lucullus, (Tomme de) Lullin, (Chevreton de) Mâcon, Mâconnais, (Chevrotin de) Mâcot, Mamirolle, (Tomme au) Marc de Raisin, (Saint) Marcellin, Maroilles, Matocq, (Sainte) Maure de Touraine, (Brie de) Meaux, (Brie de) Melun, (Tome de) Ménage, Metton, Mignon, Mimolette Française, (Boule des) Moines, (Fromage de) Montagne, (Fourme de) Montbrison,  (Chevrotin du) Mont Cenis, Mont d’Or, (Brie de) Montereau, (Chevrotin de) Montvalezan, Morbier, Mothais (à laFeuille), (Le) Mouflon, Moularen, (Le) Moulis, Munster, Murol, Murolait, (Brie de) Nangis, (Saint) Nectaire, Neufchâtel, (Le) Niolo, (Brie) Noir, (Bouton d’) Oc, Olivet, (Fromage d’) Ossau, Palouse (des Aravis), (Saint) Pancrace, Paprika, (Petit) Pardou, (Saint) Paulin, Pavé, (Chevrotin de) Peisy-Nancroix, Pélardon, Pérail, Persillé, Pèvre d’Aï, Picadou, Picodon, Pierre-Robert, (Le) Pitchou, Pithiviers (au Foin), (Le Pavé du) Plessis, Poivre, Pont-l’Evêque, Pouligny-Saint-Pierre, Pourly, Quatre-Vents, (Bleu du) Quercy, Rabelais, (Fromage à) Raclette, Reblochon, (Saint) Rémy, Rigotte, (Cabécou de) Rocamadour, (Le) Rogallais, Rogeret de Lamastre, Rollot, Roquefort, (Pavé de) Roubaix, Rustinu, Salers, (Port) Salut, Santranges, (Le) Saulxurois, (Reblochon de) Savoie, Ségalou, Selles-sur-Cher, (Persillé du) Semnoz, (Bleu de) Septmoncel, Sérac, (Tomme de) Séranon, (Tomme Grise de) Seyssel, (Galet) Solognot, Soumaintrain, Sourine Lozérien, Tamié, (Persillé de la) Tarentaise, (La) Taupinière, (Bleu de) Termignon, (Tomme de) Thônes, (Persillé de) Tigne, Tome, Tomme, Toucy, Tourmalet, (Fromage de) Vache, (Grand) Vatel, (Tomme de) Vendée, (Le) Vachard, Vacherin, Valençay, (Le) Venaco, Vendômois, (Le Saint) Winoc.

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Fair Sabrina

Posted in Baby Names, Celtic Names, Druid Names, Druidry, Heathen Names, Llewellyn's Complete Book of Names, Magical Names, Name Rankings, Names, Pagan Names, Paganism, Popularity, Fashion and Style, Rivers, Welsh Names, Wicca, Wiccan Names, Witch Names, tagged , , , , , , , , on July 6, 2011 | 6 Comments »

Yesterday, I drove from North Wales to Telford. Most of the journey was along the A5, which, despite being a major trunk-road, still has stretches untouched for centuries – even millennia. Ancient hedgerows line the road, and the verges are rich with wild flowers – sunny buttercups and scarlet poppies, mauve thistles, stately hogsweed and swathes of ox-eye daisies. Beyond, the crops of wheat, oats and barley ripen, and cows and sheep graze in seas of midsummer green. Ruined castles and Iron Age forts brood on the hills; still keeping watch over the road and all who pass beneath them. And twice the road crosses the Severn, a river which has played its part many times in British history, and is steeped in myth and legend – as well as being the source of the name Sabrina.

Sabrina was the Roman name for the Severn, and English Severn evolved from it. Although most people today take it as read that Sabrina was a Goddess, there is actually no definitive evidence. However, we know that other rivers were considered Goddesses, and so it is highly likely Sabrina was regarded as a Goddess too. The fact that the important temple complex to the God Nodens — a God of the sea, hunting  and healing — happens to be situated close to where the great river becomes the sea is further evidence that the river had religious significance to the Pagan Celts.

The Severn’s Welsh name is Hafren – a strong clue to its probable origin. In Modern Welsh, haf means ‘summer’. It derives from the Proto-Celtic *samo- ‘summer’, which is also the ancestor of Irish Samhain. The second element is most likely from the Proto-Celtic *renwo- ‘quick’ and ‘fast’ – i.e. ‘fast summer river’. The Severn still belts along at a fair old pace in summer today, especially after heavy rain, so it is a very apt name.

In his largely mythological History of Britain, the 12th Century Welsh historian Geoffrey of Monmouth recorded the medieval legend of how the river got its name. He said that it was named after a princess called Habren, the daughter of King Locrinus and his second wife Estrildis, a Saxon. Unfortunately, Locrinus’ first wife was still alive, and after he was killed in battle, she killed Habren and Estrildis and threw their bodies thrown into the river. The murderous former queen, in a token gesture to acknowledge Habren’s innocence in the whole messy business, named the river after her.

It was the English poet Edmund Spenser who revived the form Sabrina in his late 16th Century epic poem The Faerie Queene. John Milton then used the name in his masque Comus (1634), in which Sabrina featured as the name as a mermaid. It contains the famous lines:

Sabrina fair

Listen where thou art living

Under the glassie, cool, translucent wave

In twisted braids of lillies knitting

The loose train of thy amber-dropping hair,

Listen for dear honour’s sake,

Goddess of the silver lake,

Listen and save.

It was these lines that inspired Samuel Taylor’s play Sabrina Fair (1953), which became the classic film Sabrina the following year. Although Sabrina was first used as a genuine given name in the 17th Century, it is no surprise that it was not until 1954 — when Sabrina suddenly became associated with Audrey Hepburn — that it first appeared in the US Social Security Administration list of 1000 most popular names, jumping into the ranks in 795th place. The following year, it leapt to 245th.

Today, Sabrina is mostly associated with the TV sitcom Sabrina the Teenage Witch. It started out as an Archie Comics comic strip in 1962, which inspired the show, which ran 1996-2003. Both the comic strip and the TV show influenced Sabrina’s use, positively and negatively; it peaked in 1997 in 53rd place, and it has been used a little less each year ever since.

It’s rather sad that Sabrina has not been able to shake this last association, unlike its witchy twin Samantha. Why Samantha has managed to cut loose its TV ties and Sabrina – which has far weightier credentials (if such things rock your boat) – has not, is puzzling. Perhaps it’s because Samantha didn’t feature in the title of the show which rocketed it to fame, forever saddled with a distinct and not entirely complimentary epithet like teenage. Perhaps it’s just a matter of time, and people will forget eventually. But if you can shrug off the tiresome teenage-witch jibes (a mention of Spenser and Milton should do the trick — ideally accompanied by a withering stare) – Sabrina is well worth serious consideration. It has a number of very wearable pet-forms too, such as Sabby, Brina, Brinny and Brin. Or if Sabrina’s baggage is a bit too heavy, why not consider the Welsh Hafren – or even the English Severn? Which brings us nicely back to where we started.

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