Hecate for a baby girl?

[BuddingBaker]

Hecate (pronounced hek-ah-tee). In Greek mythology Hecate was a goddess associated with witchcraft, crossroads, tombs, demons and the underworld.

Bit of an unusual name but my partner really likes it and I think it sounds nice. What do you think?

If you like Kitty/Katie why not just go with one of those names? Perfectly lovely names which will not cause your dd lifelong problems (spelling/pronouncing/teasing etc.)

Hecate Beese is just a really ....not nice name.
There are so many beautiful or cool or feisty or pretty names to choose from.
why call her after a witch?

“ I cant choose her surname any more than I can choose my own.”

Actually you can choose both!

There is no wrong or right, I'm just asking for peoples opinions. I havent made a decision and will consider what people say.

As for kids, yes, they can be cruel. But they dont need a unusual name to be cruel, and they can always find reasons for name calling. Kids will be able to find a way of making fun of almost any name, or how they look, or how they talk etc. I think it would be very difficult, maybe even impossible, to choose a name that you can guarantee the child wont be bullied for in several years time.

IvinghoeBeacon - Sorry, I know I can choose and change my surname legally but I dont want to because it's our family name. I should have phrased that differently, apologies.

Just to be clear, the name was derived from the Greek goddess Hecate, not a witch.

Hecate Beese!!

By Jesus was not an unusual name for older men in Wales when I grew up. And I know a few Spanish Jesuses now.

Maybe a less witchy Greek goddess name would work. Athene Beese is not bad. Demeter Beese is possible. Get yourself a copy of the Oxford Classical Dictionary and get reading, there's bound to be something in there for you.

I think people are being rather unfair on here. Given the epidemic of stupid made up names and surnames as first names, Hecate is very respectable in comparison. It's not "younique", just a bit loaded with meaning.

What about Honey or Bumble.
Sorry only joking. All my kids have got very unusual names so I don't mind Hecate personally. I actually like Pagan as a first name I've seen it a couple of times and Persephone is lovely too!

The Greek pronunciation is Hek-ah-tee but in England during the Middle Ages it was commonly pronounced as Hek-at with two syllables. That’s why in Shakespeare (eg Macbeth) it’s pronounced as Hek-at. So I think you will find that many people will automatically use the Shakespearean pronunciation instead of the Greek.

Charlottejbt and PsychosonicCindy, thank you. Honey is a lovely name but that would definitely invite teasing, heheh.

To add a bit of context, we particularly like Greek names because we fell in love in Greece and spent time there during my pregnancy and Hecate is a name my partner has wanted to call a child for several years so it would have a lot of meaning.

I genuinely thought 'younique' was a spelling error, I didnt realise that's actually a word?

It isn’t a word. It’s purposely misspelled to take the piss out of people who purposely misspell their children’s names because they think it makes them unique.

It would be like calling your child Jesus Christ Smith

Jesus is the 11th most common name in Spain and is consistently within the top 100 new baby names in America. The lack of awareness of 'foreign' names on here is consistently shocking.

Anyway, don't call your child Hecate Beese unless you are, in fact, Terry Pratchett arisen and naming a new character.

I love it. I also have it as a user name with the addition of a 'h' at the end as it's usually taken as is.

She can be Katie or Kitty if you or her want.

However, having an alternative spelling of a common surname myself I, inadvertently, gave my kids names with alternative spelling and it has been an issue for my son all his life as he has to spell out each of his 3 names. Just something else to consider

she will be in the same class with the same teacher for at least a year at a time so she wont have to constantly explain how to say her name - it's not like she'll be meeting several new people on a daily basis.

Yes, while she is a child. But you are naming an adult, who could end up in a job that does involve meeting several new people a day.

I've no formal education in the greek classics but having read a few books just for pleasure, such as stephen fry's mythos & heroes, and then Goddesses in older women, Goddesses in every woman both by Jean Shinoda Bolen and then carole pearson's ''persephone rising'' I would have thought that it is a archetype you activate later in life, a mindset you grow in to and it is just not a name for a baby. It's just too much. Nobody starts out as Hecate. After much reflection they can consult their inner Hecate, when they need her. I think. I know enough to know that I don't know.

No. You don't name your child to please everyone else. But don't be so selfish to name your child something that is going to cause them issues.

There are so many pretty Greek names if that's what you want, without saddling your child with one so troublesome and loaded with negative connotations.

Thea is really beautiful, as are Zoe, Thalia and Xenia...neither have 'witchy' connections and are much prettier.

Why did you post if you’re so stuck on it?
It’s awful but you’ll do it anyway.

My first name is unusual. It's always bee very tedious having to keep spelling it for people, having people call me a close approximation etc. I grew up with a common surname but then took DH's extremely unusual surname. Double whammy. I long to have a simple name. The worst is giving your email address over the phone. People hear what they want to hear so I have to ask them to repeat it back to me as they invariably get it wrong.

Althea or Alethea Beese is much more workable and still greek.

The spelling thing isn't really relevant in my eyes I've got an extremely common name which has a couple of spellings and I am always having to say which spelling it is. Also my maiden name and married surname constantly need to be spelled out when I say it I automatically spell it straight away because I know they'll ask. It's no big deal! Also people are always adding an e to my dds name and my other dds are 'y or ie?' Most names need spelling.

Jesus is the 11th most common name in Spain and is consistently within the top 100 new baby names in America. The lack of awareness of 'foreign' names on here is consistently shocking.

Yes but the OP not an Ancient Greek nor a Wiccan. She would be naming her child after a deity she doesn't believe in because she just quite likes the name. Which seems at best odd and at worst offensive.

Makes me think of Buffy

Your choice, obviously, OP

But the ancient myths about Hecate (Greek: Hekate) are not all pleasant. Her origins were probably grand and benevolent - she was a primeval goddess, a Titan - but by later Greek and Roman times she was often described as a vengeful sender of ghosts and demons, and the companion of the souls of the dead. Ancient writers also sometimes portrayed her as as a three-headed monster (horse, dog, lion); because of this, the Romans called her 'Trivia' (Three Ways, though of course the word now has another meaning). The ancient Greeks sacrificed dogs to her...

I'm sure you know all this, but just in case it's of interest, the following website collects together the ancient descriptions of Hekate and shows how she was imagined in different ways over the centuries: www.theoi.com/Khthonios/Hekate.html#Encyclopedia