What is the problem with the name Delilah?

[coveredinsnot]

Is it just the biblical reference and meaning seductress?

I really like this name and we're struggling to find names we both like for our imminent DD.

Are there any other names that have a similar sound without the issues?

[Savagebeauty]

Tallulah?

[SmugairleRoin]

It's in the same mental grouping as Jezebel for me, though the reference is probably less well known as a prostitute.

Also there's that painful song Hey There Delilah.

Thalia or Alannah?

[thehypocritesoaf]

Why why why?

[QOD]

Why why why Delilah

Tom Jones


Fab name. Love it!

[JustOneMinuteAtATime]

Yeah...not so much Hey There Delilah as Tom Jones.

And the prostitute thing.

[reuset]

I don't think there is a problem with the name Delilah, perhaps only if you set great store by the religious narrative.

It's certainly popular enough, it's in the top 200 for sure. People are using it. Not languishing in obscurity like Jezebel.

[coveredinsnot]

Tallulah sounds more prositutey to me for some reason although it is pretty.

And yes, 'the prostitute thing' - would I really want to do that to my DD? No, I just don't think I can...

[annandale]

Aaliyah
Melanie

[2tired2bewitty]

That Hey There Delilah song turned out to have a deeply creepy backstory, probably why you don't here it anymore

[2tired2bewitty]

*hear

[coveredinsnot]

What was it?

[SmugairleRoin]

Wow what was the backstory to Hey There Delilah? I've been looking it up but haven't found anything.

For the record, I think Jezebel is a nice sounding name, apart from the stripperyness from it. :D So is Delilah. But it is one of those I would never, ever use.

[BiscuitMillionaire]

"Why why why Delilah

Tom Jones

Fab name. Love it!"

Um - she's murdered by the man singing the song. So not really a great association to give your child. 'I felt the knife in my hand and she laughed no more'

[JustOneMinuteAtATime]

It looks like it was written about an unrequited crush on a friend with a boyfriend.

www.today.com/popculture/muse-shares-story-behind-hey-there-delilah-2D80555078

[reuset]

Delilah wasn't a prostitute that I recall. There was a prostitute mentioned, who was involved with Samson, but it wasn't her (one of my childhood bible stories has them as married though so I'm struggling to remember details). She was certainly a treacherous character and I thought this was the main objection. Will consult Google.

[reuset]

I've never heard of Hey There Delilah (whatever that is, another song?)

[AuditAngel]

Delilah was on our middle name list for DD1 as it is her Godmother's name.

In the end, DH and baby were kicked out of the operating theatre during the CS and when they asked him the baby's names he used my middle name for DD which was also on the shortlist of 3 names.

Our priest was very approving of the names Gabriela Faith, nit sure what he would have thought of Delilah!

[emotionsecho]

I don't think there's a problem with Delilah. If you like it use it people in real life are not half as judgemental as people on MN, are unlikely to make the connection with the biblical Delilah, you may get the odd person singing the Tom Jones song but her peer group as she grows up won't.

[SmugairleRoin]

I see. Interesting about Hey There Delilah, never would have thought that about it.

Delilah will be yer one in the Bible to many people, agreed that the Tom Jones reference will die out - I certainly didn't know it. I stand by it sounding strippery though.

[reuset]

Thinking of those Delilahs I do know of (only one personally and not recently) it seems to be the choice of the hipster parent

[Lunastarfish]

I know a toddler Delilah, albeit it has been shortened to Lilah

[BitOutOfPractice]

I don't think the back story to "Hey There Delilah" is "creepy". Unusual yes. Creepy not so much

[thehypocritesoaf]

The tom jones ref won't die out for a long time but I wouldn't let it worry you.

[PantryofWhoGivesAFuck]

I know a three year old Delilah.

[Squooshed]

Delilah is a lovely name but the constant choruses of the Tom Jones song that a Delilah would have to endure would put me off it. That song will never die out!

Can you imagine being a Delilah in Cardiff on the day of a big match?