Caelum-Kaylum
I think we've found the name we're gonna name him (if it's a boy), but the spelling we choose will not only give it a different pronunciation, but also a different originating language. Which of the following spelling/pronunciation options do you prefer?
- Caelum (pronounced: KYE-lum) is Latin for 'sculptor's chisel', and is also the name of a constellation in the southern sky.
- Caellum (pronouned: KAY-lum) is Celtic for 'brave warrior'
- Kaelum (pronounced: KAY-lum) is an American-English name that somehow or another means 'honest man', though I can't quite figure out the origination of how it came to mean this (but it says so on several different websites)
- Kaylum (also pronounced: KAY-lum) is an American variation that combines the names Caleb (Hebrew= whole-hearted; faith; devotion) and Callum (Latin/Gaelic= dove)
Re: Caelum-Kaylum
The more I research these names, and think about it, I'm really leaning more and more strongly to Caelum too.
And I'm cool with the constant correction thing. My own name has been mispronounced throughout my whole life by people I don't know, but I've never minded that, in fact its led to quite a few interesting conversations with people I probably otherwise would have had much more limited interaction with.
I agree that Caelum is the best of these, and as long as you're ok with the pronunciation issues that will arise, I think it's fine. It does sound a bit feminine, but I like a soft name for a boy.
My Latin might be a little rusty, but I'm pretty sure Caelum means "sky" or "heaven," not chisel. The constellation is Caelum Scalptorium, sort of "heaven's chisel" or "chisel of the sky."
Any classicists out there who know for sure?
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I was thinking this too - I'm no expert, but I took Latin in college, and sky-related words do start with "cael-". And the word for sky in Latinate languages is similar (i.e. ciel in French). So I looked it up:
My little Latin dictionary has two listings for caelum; one is "sky, heaven, air, climate, weather; (fig) height of success, glory" and the other is "engraver's chisel." Caelo is the verb meaning "to engrave," caelator is an engraver, etc., and caelestis means "of the sky; heavenly; divine; glorious" (I'm assuming this is a root of celestial?).
So it looks like it has both meanings, which would be an added bonus for me!
DS born at 34 weeks with (surprise!) gastroschisis turned short bowel syndrome.
131 days in the NICU, 7 trips to the OR, G-button, daily TPN....
Thanks for this!
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Thanks a lot for doing that research. For the bit of research I've been doing, it does look like caelum is the original root of celestial, and 'cae' seems to be where the word sky originates from. In Latin it seems to most often refer to the sky or to heaven, but also has a second meaning that refers to a sculptor's chisel, which is supposedly the main inspiration for naming the constellation this, I guess it looks like a chisel.
Some cool quotes I found with caelum in them:
"fiat justitia ruat caelum translates to ?may justice be done though the heavens fall.?
caelum certe patet means "the sky at least stands open"
Awesome depth of meaning.
Think I'm gonna pronounce it KYE-lum too, cuz for one, that's actually the way it's pronounced in the original Latin (though there does seem to be some debate about this). Could add an L (Caellum) and it actually would become a Celtic name meaning 'brave warrior' that would originally be pronounced KAY-lum, but I think I'll just keep that as a loosely connected kinda meaning.
And for another, he'll be a 1/2 Chinese kid, and we can easily use the KYE sound when coming up with a good Chinese name, but there aren't any KAY sounds in Chinese (we'd really like both his names to have a similar pronunciation, and have an equally awesome Chinese meaning (we live in China, and he'll probably be raised here)--- his Chinese name will probably be Kai-Long-- don't know for sure yet though, that'll require us a bit more research--- but in any event KYE-lum will be much easier to get close-ish to in Chinese than KAY-lum would).
And thirdly, I really like the nickname Kai (Cae). Has meanings in tons of languages itself. A good stand-alone name even on it's own.
And yeah, I feel like KYE-lum sounds a bit more masculine (like Kyle or Rylan) than KAY-lum does.
And even if it is mispronounced sometimes, even the mispronunciations will usually sound nice--- probably would usually be mispronounced as either KAY-lum or Callum.
I'm just liking this name more and more the more I learn about it and think about it.
Of your choices, I like Kaelum. I prefer Kay-lum to Kye-lum and like this spelling the best.