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?

You'd be giving her a lifetime of spelling it out and having to correct the way people pronounce it. Don't be so harsh just because you want to be different.

Some great suggestions so far!

We were actually going to name our first Artemis until my partners brother gave his dog that name, heheh.

Melisandre is lovely but there's far too many children named after GoT characters already, heheh.

I love hecate for a girl reminds me of hecate hardbroom in worst witch when i was growing up

Mary Poppins - I dont think I ever said anyone was wrong? If I came across that way, I apologise, that's not what I intended. I'm pretty sure I said there is no right or wrong and I just want to hear peoples opinions.

Also, not everyone said dont do it, quite a few people like the name if you read through the comments. I havent actually decided on it yet, so that's why I'm asking.

Fiddlesticks - Clytemnestra is quite a name. What does it mean?

I was going to suggest Hebe until I saw the surname

I think I vaguely remember worst witch! Cant remember a character called Hecate though, it's been a long time

Call her Helena

Really sorry OP, but I just keep seeing the word "defecate". Probably not the association you want for your DD!

Fiddlesticks - Clytemnestra is quite a name. What does it mean?

She was quite a woman and killed one of her husbands!

www.google.com/amp/s/www.greekmythology.com/Myths/Mortals/Clytemnestra/clytemnestra.html.amp

Dido? Phaedra? Hecuba?

@nachthexe
🤣🤣🤣🤣
nn heeby jeebies 🤣🤣

She will spend her entire life explaining, correcting, spelling it out etc.
Don’t saddle an innocent child with this.
It’s cruel.

Clytaemnestra = "Latinized form of Greek Κλυταιμνηστρα (Klytaimnestra), from κλυτος (klytos) meaning "famous, noble" and μνηστηρ (mnester) meaning "courter, wooer"." Probably a facetious suggestion as C. was a notoriously villainous mythical character who murdered her husband Agamemnon for having sacrificed their daughter Iphigeneia. I always sympathized with her but ancient authors generally didn't.

Call her Helena

That's what I did with DD2.

I was going to suggest Hebe until I saw the surname grin

Same. I once had an old copy of Saki's Beasts and Superbeasts in which the original owner had written her name on the flyleaf, and she was called Hebe Templar Prior. I thought that was so grand and impressive, but you need that kind of surname to carry it off. My maiden name is short, inelegant and sounds like a common word (think Bull) and my DB had to abandon so many names that he liked because they sounded weird with the name. Isabella Bull, Hunter Bull and suchlike.

Melisande is nice if you don't mind a French name, and has a kind of supernatural vibe that might go with Hecate. I'm thinking Maeterlinck/ Debussy and not Game of Thrones.

The Worst Witch books were brilliant, I'd forgotten those!

JKScot4 - I feel like I may have to get a cat called Hebe one day for that nick name heheh

I do like Phaedra, and Clytemnestra for that matter though I suspect it will be even more difficult for people to spell/say.

I've got a fairly normal name, though my maiden name I always had to spell out, correct etc. Its a nuisance, sure, but a lot of names would be the same and I'm not sure how that inconvenience makes it cruel? I work with people and often find unless it's a really popular name I have to check spelling and pronunciation a lot.

Dido? Phaedra? Hecuba?

Hecuba/ Hecabe, genius suggestion. I saw The Trojan Women a couple of times in the original Greek when I was younger. Hecuba is a strong, if tragic, figure.

I like it, I like Lileth & Phaedra too, but bottled out of them because of the negative associations. But actually, these days I don't think anyone cares and so many kids have alternative names that other children don't find it at all remarkable.

We went for Phebe (which is an English spelling, but hated on MN because it's not standard 😂)

How about Caliope or Cassiopeia?

@Charlottejbt. Hera Beese sounds like "here are bees" so probably not.. Haha true, some surnames you’ve got to think about more carefully than others, mine included.

Daphne Beese or Alexis Beese sound quite nice, not too long or short or guttural.

@Babybel90 Pleased to meet another member of the tricky surnames club!

Daphne and Alexis are both brilliant suggestions. I would have used Daphne myself but was worried about confusion with an older family member with that name. I think the DCs have agreed to bestow it on a DD of the next generation! I don't know why Alexis isn't used more widely, since there are so many Alex- names. I always liked the Joan Collins character myself too.

OP if you quite like GOT Melisandre (or the older original, Melisande) how about Melusine (magical, like Hecate, but perhaps gentler-sounding), or a real rarity, Corisande ? That's a proper name, with medieval origins. I've only ever met one, who pronounced it in the French way: 'Coh-ree-son-duh'.
www.britishbabynames.com/blog/2014/01/corisande.html

As previous posters have said, a longer first name would go nicely with 'Beese'.

Some great suggestions, thank you! I really like Corisande though, I may have to suggest that to my partner.

It's not really pronounced "hek-ah-tee", but rather "heh-kah-teh". Emphasis on the first syllable.

But that aside, I think it's a gorgeous name. If you like similar pagan goddess themed names, you could also consider names like:

Diana
Astarte
Aradia
Kali
Athena
Demeter
Minerva
Echo

Artemisia
Pandora
Caroline

Some Welsh ones - Rhiannon, Arianwen

I know a lovely Persephone

But madcatladyforever's response is completely insane

No it isn’t! If you go around naming your kids after other people’s deities maybe you should know what you are doing.

Call your kid Satan, why not?

And OP, it isn’t the same as ‘Harry’. HP is fiction, (as is Macbeth) and not of complex currency.

Would you call a child Snape or Voldemort because you liked the name?

My child was also, er, made in Greece

I just chose not to use that fact as a reason to give her what is undoubtedly a burden of a name. You know that your child isn't born to justify your life and belief choices, rights?

No it isn’t! If you go around naming your kids after other people’s deities maybe you should know what you are doing.

Greek gods and goddesses are part of everyone's shared cultural heritage. You don't have a special right of veto over other people's naming choices just because you identify as Wiccan or whatever.