Have you ever known a 'Hebe'

[Icarriedawatermelon82]

Very unusual but I think it's pretty.

Yes, she goes to school with my son.

Hebe is lovely.

Goddess of youth, she who dances with peacocks. Was renown for being vain though.

@horsefeather I would love to have been a willowy classicist! Unfortunately I'm more of the square-set, ruddy, five foot three variety described upthread! But does show that it can be done, after all!

Hebe is the lead ‘Sister,Cousin,Aunt’ to Sir Joseph Porter KCB in ‘HMS Pinafore’ by Gilbert and Sullivan. She’s the only one I’ve ‘met’. I’ve always liked the name.

In the first production I saw, as a child, Hebe was small, dark and smiley, so that’s the image I have of a Hebe.

Aren’t Hebe plants quite small and compact too? Although maybe they come in all shapes and sizes, just like human Hebes?

I know a 6 yo one. Lovely name.

I don’t know anyone with this name. Need a bit of time to get used to it but the “he” at the start makes it sound a bit masculine to me

Yes - the Hebe I know is delightful! And her sister is called Delphine, and is also lovely!

Live it. Reminds of a Mary Wesley novel
As does Calypso which I also love.

I knew a little girl Hebe (would be 12 now) and thought it was lovely.

I know a 16 year old girl, plus two gun dogs called Hebe. Great name!

I love it. Really nice.
Don’t think I know any.

Apparently I was almost called it, but my dad didn't like it & wanted Blanche so they "compromised" on a very popular in it's time 80s name. I wish I'd been called Hebe, though I think it would be a rather harder name to carry off if you were a square-set, ruddy, five foot three - this is me 😂

I'll get shouted down for this, but it just makes me think of 'hebephile', which, whilst not especially common as words go, is probably the most commonly-used word beginning with 'hebe'.

Whilst the prefix 'hebe' itself has a nice, strong meaning, for me, it would be a bit like calling a child 'Paedo'. Lovely, charming name - it simply means 'child' - however....

“Paed’ is at least as likely to suggest paediatrics as paedophile, surely.

“Paed’ is at least as likely to suggest paediatrics as paedophile, surely.

It is indeed, but when an 'o' is put on the end, it's only generally understood to mean one thing. I can't imagine one single paediatrician would be at all happy being referred to informally as a 'paedo' - it's a very unequivocally loaded term.

Even the whole word 'paediatrician' has been famously misunderstood by hard of thinking vigilantes in the past, leading to them hunting down and terrorising these people in rage for what they were doing to children - providing them with high-quality healthcare...