Zacchaeus or Zacharus - discuss

[LetThemEatCake]

[LetThemEatCake]

with Alexander as middle name

[suwoo]

Like Zacchaeus and not heard of Zacharus. Will you abbreviate?

[Tortoise]

My DS2 is Zachary Alexander.
Not keen on Zacchaeus but Zacharus is ok.

[TheJester]

Prefer just Zachary

[LetThemEatCake]

Tortoise, how odd, so similar!

mrswoolf - which tax collector? is this a story?

doubt I would abbreviate. DD and DS both have 'unusual' names and although I had abbreviations in mind for both of them before birth, have never used them.

If a girl, think will be Anoushka Emiliana or Anoushka Matisse - any opinions on those?

ps suspect I may have made zacharus up - is it a real name??

[jellybeans]

Prefer just Zachary or Zac.

[Tortoise]

Mine is mainly called Zach.
I hadn't heard of either of your versions TBH so i just assumed they were real.

If my Zach had my surname not XPs, his initials would be Zac!

[LetThemEatCake]

maybe not Zacchaeus!!

shame, as meaning is 'pure, bright' - but this story is a bit off-putting. Plus he was short - oh dear, no

[Leannabanana]

i think you misunderstand the story if you think it is not a worthy namesake....its a beautiful name IMO and a wonderful demonstration that Jesus is interested in the people that most people wouldn't give the time of day too....thus giving us all hope...sorry....i am a sunday school teacher ha. x

[seeker]

I really don't mean to be rude - but if you don't know the Biblical story of Zacchaeus, where did you think the name came from?!!?

[LetThemEatCake]

that is a lovely way of looking at it, had not considered that. was just caught up with the idea of him being short and generally unpopular. It's the American cheerleader in me.

I do love the name ...always get swayed by stories/ meanings and associations though - for instance, was considering Jonah for ds but then the 'bad luck, curse' thing got me... didn't all the sailors think that the storm was his fault? sorry my knowledge of the bible is not as good as it could be.

I like names that demonstrate hope. My daughter's name was chosen very much on those lines.

[LetThemEatCake]

seeker - that is a surprising question, not rude exactly but a touch blinkered perhaps. Like many mums to be looking through baby name books with brief meanings given alongside each name, I came across the name in a book, where the meaning was given as 'pure, bright'. No mention of the biblical character.

For instance, I know that Sarah means princess and that it is a biblical name but would be hard pressed to tell you what she did in the bible.

[Leannabanana]

i think Zacchaeus is an absolutely inspiriational man to name your son after....i really like it and mentioned it to DH but we don't like it as much as our current top boys name....go for it. x

[seeker]

I see your point, Letthemeatcake, but I think if I was going to choose a really unusual name like that I'd want to know about the only person that anybody might have heard of with the name. Just in case it was a Jonah-type story!

If we hadn't had a family name lined up for our DS, he might well have been Kier. I wouldn't have considered the name if I wasn't happy with its political connections.

I don't think there's the same sort of issue with Sarah because it's a more usual name, and nobody is going to say "Oh, where does that come from?"

[piscesmoon]

I think that I would google it if it was really unusual to make sure that it hadn't got any negative connotations that I wasn't aware of.

[PuppyMonkey]

Zach on its own miles better than the full version.

[fizzpops]

Much prefer Emiliana as a middle name over Matisse but generally would prefer Emilia as otherwise she would have so many syllables.

Boys would prefer Zack or Zachary - haven't previously heard of the other two. But then I think I have more reserved taste in names than you so what I think wouldn't be what you would think.

[LetThemEatCake]

piscesmoon - yes, I did that with ds's name - googled it endlessly and even contacted people on Facebook with the same name to make sure that they didn't hate their parents for giving them such an unusual name! Would def do the same once we were more certain about the names we like - but it's early days yet. And asking on this thread is my initial research - which worked as you can see, since I have had so much interesting feedback.

[piscesmoon]

Well done-it is better to find out before you do it. Elijah seems to be popular at the moment, I know that he was an OT prophet but beyond that I am very hazy so if I liked it (which I don't!)I would want to know what he did before I used it.

[LetThemEatCake]

hmm. I quite like Elijah. Not for one of my children, but a nice name in general.

Boys' names are hard. I have, at various times in my others pregnancies, liked Noah and Finn, but have gone right off both now. Also Jonah, Jonas, Tariq, Ravi.

My (female) sonographer the other day was Japanese and had such a pretty name - Ryoko. Meaning bright.

[TheJester]

The dog in down and out in Beverley hills was called Matisse. Great name for a dog.

I like Anoushka though.

[LetThemEatCake]

I've started thing maybe Zephaniah today!!

Zebediah nice too

wouldn't have Alexander as second name in either of these cases though

[RachieB]

I like Isaac NN Zac

not keen on Zacchaeus but I prefer it to Zacharus!

[sophietom]

I love the name Zachary- hadn't heard of Zachaeus/ Zacharus until today. Zacchaeus is nice (I don't like Zacharus, sorry)
Zebediah is cool though- you can nickname him Zebedee!