View Message

[Opinions] Linden
I've become obsessed with the name, but I'm not sure if I like it. I really love the nickname Lindy. However: It's not traditional enough for me...it doesn't seem rooted enough for a name.Opinions? Would Linden work with an Elias or Tobias,Miriam, Tabitha, Miriam, Katharine and names in that vein? What do you think?
Archived Thread - replies disabled
vote up1

Replies

Linden is slowly becoming more common where I live, I've met 2 recently, but thats mostly in tribute to a hockey player named Trevor Linden (its hockeycountry :D). Since he's such a well respected person, who works tirelessly for many local charities I only have good associations with the name and could easily see it working with names like Tobias. Yet, thats the image I have conjured up and I'm not sure how others would perceive it.
vote up1
I understand.I have the same feeling about names, too.Let me see if I can put my naming likes into words, because it's hard for me to explain. I like a name to have roots, deep roots. For example, when I hear the name Katharine, Miriam or Margaret, I love knowing that thousands upon thousands of women have carried the name, creating works, living their lives - it ties my daughter to those women. Weird, I know. And even more weird: I don't have the same feeling about mens' names. I prefer traditional names, just because I don't want my child to be dated. But with women...I need a rooted name, connecting them with their rich ancestry.If I knew of a famous woman named Linden, or I could trace the name back a few centuries to women, I'd have an easier time. I think this is the oddest part of me.
vote up1
I absolutely love the name Linden for a girl. I love nature names, particularly ones that manage to be a little different with out being too "my parent are HIPPIES!!!"I honestly couldn't care less about the concept of "sib sets" or names going together. I think that's meaningless. Pick the names you love best, period. That's my philosophy anyway.I've known two men named Lyndon, and even though Lyndon and Linden sound basically the same (in my accent anyway) to me Linden doesn't seem masculine at all. It seems like a nice non-frilly but feminine name. Love it. :)

This message was edited 11/30/2006, 8:46 PM

vote up1
I have the same feeling about Linden. I like it but it just doesn't seem to fit with my other names. I try not to let myself get hung up so much on issues like that anymore and focus more on liking the names individually, so I don't see a problem with it when compared to your other names. I do think it fits best with Tabitha and Katharine just because Elias, Tobias and Miriam sound very Old Testament to me.I hate the nn Lindy though. Too cutesy.
“It is better to keep your mouth closed and let people think you are a fool than to open it and remove all doubt.”
~Mark Twain
vote up1
In the book "the Amature Marriage"one of the characters was named Linnet, always called Lindy. I like both Linden and Linnet, and , very much, Lindy.
vote up1
That's where I got the name. :-D
vote up1
If you see this, way down on the boardDid you like the book? Do you like Ann Tyler? (I'm a fan.)
vote up1
All I think of is the Lindor truffles. I don't think Linden goes well with your other names, they are too classic.

Future Mom to Adeline and...?
vote up1
I love the name Linden, and Lindy is cute. I think it would go fine with your other names, especially Elias, Tobias and Katharine. Very nice.

Leona
Do you believe?
vote up1
I like Linden for a boy, and I like Lindy, but I have a lot of difficulty seeing Linden as feminine. It just doesn't feel like a name for a woman to me, I'm afraid.I don't see Miriam and Linden (Mim and Lindy?) being too incongruous, but like I said, Linden just doesn't seem like it'd fit a girl at all.Array

O come, all ye Grateful
Deadheads to the concert.
O come, Grateful Deadheads,
And camp in the street.A revolution without dancing is a revolution not worth having.
vote up1
I see Linden as masculine too
vote up1
I can't see as masculine.I think I'll put it aside for now.
vote up1
I think it's really pretty. I like Linden for a girl, and the spelling Lyndon would be more masculine to me, so I don't associate it too much with the president. I don't see why it wouldn't work with those names. Magnanimous Despair alone could show me so divine a thing, where feeble hope could ne'er have flown, but vainly flapped its tinsel wing.
vote up1
It reminds me of Linten from the book Wuthering Heights, which I was forced to read and didn't like very much.
vote up1
I love it too, especially the nn Lindy. Why isn't it traditional, if other botanical names like Rose and Hazel are? It hasn't been as popular as those two names I admit. And the annoying similarity to Lyndon B. Johnson's name doesn't help. But with Rowan growing in popularity for a girl, why not Linden? I can see Linden working with the names you've listed, especially Tabitha.
vote up1
Thanks.I don't see Hazel as traditional, to be honest. I think my problem is that Liden is a bit cutesy, and its end is slightly trendy. :-/I don't mind it being similar to LBJ - it bothers me more that it's similar to Lyndon LaRouche. By far.
vote up1
i like Linden for a boy, i think it goes well with those names
"a boy's best friend is his mother" - Norman Bates in Psycho
vote up1