Message: "True background of René?"

True background of René?

by markop

9/22/2013, 11:13 PM

I saw someone on this site saying this about the name René:
"From antiquity (at least Roman times), there was a custom to consider the recovery of a baby born blue (asphyxiated), almost like a miracle. It was considered like a second birth. From there the name Renatus (reborn). This custom existed through all Europe, and the name was adapted to many languages."

Can anybody confirm this? What's the resource of knowing all this? I've tried searching the web and all I can find is that the name means "born again" - but none of the material I've found so far deals with the name's history in such depth as the text cited above.

So, what I really want to know is: is the claim cited true or not?

Replies

- Anneza

9/24/2013, 12:58 AM

This is a guess, and therefore on the wrong board: a child dies at birth. Another child is born to the same parents, same sex as the dead sibling. Wouldn't it make some sense to name that child Renatus or Renata?

- AspiringAuthor15 (Skygray15)

9/23/2013, 1:48 PM

I can't find anything to authenticate your story, though it is a cool one.

My middle name is Renee, the female version of René, and I was always under the impression that it referred to the Christian rebirth through Jesus Christ.

Can anyone confirm my theory?

- Rene

9/23/2013, 9:40 AM

Like you I tried to find some other source for this story on the Internet and failed. Something with "asphyxiated" or similar as part of the search should be easy to find, if it's there, because that word isn't terribly common in texts.

I searched also in German and in French, without any hits.

So, as a René myself, I cannot prove anything, but I would say that beautiful story isn't true.

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