Pandra

[SerenDippitee]

So yes, we've been watching a lot of Time for School recently and there's a little girl called Pandra. I had never heard the name before but it is a Celtic name meaning 'chief dragon'.

I LOVE it. We are in England but have bona fide Celtic heritage. I am prepared for the fact that many people will assume that it's a typo for Pandora.

But...thoughts?

only1scoop that made me laugh

I too would think it was Pandora spelled incorrectly.

No, but Pandora is nice.

If Google thinks it's a typo, it's probably a bad idea.....

It sounds like the name of a Thundercat, if the Thundercats had been Thunderbears.

There's no such thing as a 'Celtic' name, OP. Online dictionaries do suggest it means 'what' in Cornish, though I wouldn't count on their accuracy.

I agree with a pp who said it sounds like the 'amusing' name Paul and Sandra call their holiday villa on the Costa Brava.

I'm not keen really. My first thought was that it reminds me of Panthera from thundercats only the Panda version! Showing my age there probably.

In the immortal words of Marian Keyes, it sounds a bit cobbled together.

Hmmm, sounds made up. Any name that's described as being 'Celtic' seems bogus to me.

Plus I too would suspect it was a terrible blended name. There was a soap actress called Malandra whose parents were Malcolm and Sandra, so I'd suspect it was along those lines.

Pandora is nice.

only 😂😂😂

My first thought was that it reminds me of Panthera from thundercats

Cheetara. Now there's a name!

This is all brilliant.

I have messaged a friend who's an academic and works down the hall from the Celtic specialists. He is going to ask them at lunch.

Definitely what only said about the holiday home 😂😂

I like it (and I don't usually like unusual names) - it appealed to me immediately, and I like the sound of the Celtic connections.

...............if there is a Celtic connection. Lots of supposed 'Celtic' names seem to me to have been dreamt up by some white witch called Charlene who makes a living selling healing crystals in Wyoming.

I think it will always get autocorrected to panda, I wouldn't personally!

No, she could well end up being called Panda instead at school thus making her school days a misery. It'll likely get changed by deed poll to something more conventional when she is old enough.

I don't like it at all, sorry, it sounds like a mishmash of panda and Pandora.

Well I think it is sweet, and Pan is a cute nickname. But I seem to be alone there!

I like Pandora as my friend has one, now a teenager and she's the sweetest thing.

I also like Sandra.

Pandra doesn't float my boat but I always think with these threads, if YOU love it, go for it.

I think that it would be closer to the tenuous Celtic connection of you called her Pendra rather than Pandra.
Pandra does sound panda-ish.

Pandora is lovely. Do you think people are put off it because they fear lots of ribbing in teenage years about her box? Or did Adrian Mole kill it off?

Pandora is really cool - plus as am sure you know it means 'all gifts'...
it sounds much better than Pandra..... but tbh you know what people are like, she would probably end up being 'panda' either way.

...............if there is a Celtic connection. Lots of supposed 'Celtic' names seem to me to have been dreamt up by some white witch called Charlene who makes a living selling healing crystals in Wyoming.

Snort. Yes, Charlene seems to be responsible for the majority of the 'Irish Baby Name' sites on the internet. They appear not to understand that 'Gaelic' and 'Celtic' are not synonyms, that the Irish language is not in fact called 'Gaelic', talk a lot about the 'enigmatic' qualities of Irishness, and then helpfully list 'Braden' and 'Bedelia' as Irish names. There's even an Irish naming website where Frank McCourt has done the audio files, so you can find out the authentic Irish-American way to mispronounce the names.

Update from my friend - apparently this was quite the topic at lunchtime:

The name is legit (one of the Celtic post-docs knew of a Pandra from somewhere very remote in northern Scotland) and the meaning plausible BUT the consensus was that it is too close to the problematic words and names already listed by pp (pandas, unfortunate portmanteaux etc) as to be unusable in south-east England, where she would grow up.

So onto the growing list of vetoed baby names it goes, ready to be used for a cat one day....

Well if it only is known in Scotland then I'm guessing it's roots would be Scottish Gaelic rather than Welsh. Dragon in Scottish Gaelic is (from a Scottish Gaelic online dictionary, so no guarantees of accuracy) nathair-sgiathach. Which doesn't sound much like Pandra...