Bede

[RTchoke]

I love the name Bede (pronounced Bead) but I fear it might be too "out there".

What's the general consensus?

[OatyBeatie]

It is quite "out there." I would love it, though. Bede is a sweetheart.

[OatyBeatie]

(you'd have to make sure ds was venerable though.)

[EvenIfYouSeeAPoppy]

I love it. I would probably assume his parents were academics - up to you whether that is a good or a bad thing :)

[PopOozeTheFastest]

It's venerable .

Seriously though, not my cup of tea. Sorry.

[MrClaypole]

Not my cup of tea either I'm afraid.

He will always be having to repeat or spell his name for people. DP has a name like that and it drives him mad.

[YokoOhNo]

I'm a fan of Bede and like the name, but it's pretty way out there. Do you have a degree

[Purplehonesty]

I like it. But people will mispronounce it beady forever!

[YokoOhNo]

...in Anglo Saxon.

Sorry too keen today

[meditrina]

Lovely (and venomous), but I'm not sure how live-able-with it is.

[RTchoke]

Why does it sound like we are academics? I don't want to come across as pushing a self-inflated image. As it happens DH has a PhD but he is not in academia. I have a degree but nothing more and I work in the public sector.

[MadBusLady]

I'm not sure. It's hard to think of it as a first name, for some reason. Was it his first name, do we know, or was it a family name of some sort?

Other Northern religious types who kicked ass: Wilfrid, Cuthbert, Benedict (Biscop, not the Italian one).

[MrsJohnDeere]

Too religious for my taste

[seeker]

You know you can't call your child Bede, don't you. In your heart of hearts you know you can't.

[SnotandBothered]

We had a bit of a bumbling/disorganised maths teacher at school.

We found out he was called Bede

He was teased mercilessly and called Beady Eyes for ever



I quite like it now - it is a very sweet name. But 'sweet' is something to consider long term.

[Viviennemary]

Not my kind of name. Sorry. Actually on second thoughts it's truly awful.

[MrClaypole]

Ooh I'm liking Benedict a lot!

[givemeaclue]

Boy or girl?

[fuzzysnout]

High chance of him being called bidet at school I would have thought.

[OatyBeatie]

More northern kickass christians: Godric and Aidan. I like Godric.

[MoonHare]

It is pretty out there I think, but recently there have been several threads from people thinking of ancient Northumbrian saints type names so maybe it wouldn't raise too many eyebrows. If you're in the North East many people would have heard of it and know how to pn.

On the other hand it might not be that easy to carry through life as he would probably meet many more people who have never heard of it as a name than those who have.

There were 8 baby Bede's born in 2010.

[seeker]

I just don't think people realise how wearing it is to have to explain your name every single bloody time you give it. Every time. For 80 years. For example, no chance to be anonymous for the first morning of a course- everybody's turned to look at you at the "OK let's go round the circle and say who we are and where we're from" moment!

[meditrina]

Aethelstan?

[Bunbaker]

"Boy or girl?"

It's a boy's name. The Venerable Bede is widely regarded as the greatest of all the Anglo-Saxon scholars.

Has anyone been to Bede's World in Jarrow? Is it worth visiting?

I think the name has too much scope for teasing - bead, beady, bidet. Sorry.

[YokoOhNo]

As it happens, I'm a fan of Anglo Saxon names. I like the name Caedmon for instance.

But (and I'm not sure why) if you called your DS Bede, it would make me leap to conclusions and assume you had a PhD and was doing post doc work on The Dream Of The Rood.

It is rather a connoisseur type name.

[OatyBeatie]

Yes, it would kind of suggest that you spoke in Latin at teatime for fun.