Ga*ked from sovay

[darcydodo]

What does your first name mean?
According to the most reliable sources (whatever these may be), Darcy means "dweller in the fortress." I found this out in seventh grade, when our Latin teacher researched all of our names in order to give us Latin names; mine was Arcita (and occasionally I've used this as a handle on MUDs and the like). When I was much younger, however, I remember meeting a smooth-talking man of Irish extraction who told me that my name meant Queen of the Clover. Needless to say, this delighted me utterly. I'm rather fond of its purported "real" meaning too, though. (It can also, naturally, simply mean "from Arcy," Arcy apparently being an island [or town] somewhere in France.)

What does your middle name mean?
Anne? Apparently it's Hebrew for "grace," or "full of grace," although that's just based on a quick search of websites. I know there are any number of people on my friendslist who could correct me on this.

What does your last name mean?
Depending on the language of origin, it means either "red" or "beautiful." There's an excellent apocryphal story (although I'm starting to wonder if it mightn't actually be true) telling how when the Communist party took over Russia, they didn't want to rename Krasne Square (Beautiful Square) in Moscow, so they simply changed the meaning of the word in order that the square be called Red Square. Despite my Russian ancestry, in this case the name is actually Polish, and it certainly either means or meant "beautiful" in Polish (once again, there are people on my flist who can correct me there). Just today, one of my students, who's from the Czech Republic, asked me if I was Czech, since Krasne apparently also means beautiful in Czech.

So what does your name mean when put together?
Taking it in the most positive light, "beautiful, graceful dweller in the fortress." ;)

What would you have been named if you were the opposite gender?
Pascal. :) Like the boy in The Red Balloon, and also kind of naming me after my grandfather, whose name was Paul, but originally Pinkus, and occasionally he got called Pasha.

Any other name oddities?
I was almost named Alexis, so that my mother could call me Alix. I absolutely detest that spelling of the nickname Alex, so it's a really good thing I wasn't named that!!!

Do you like your name?
Yeah.

What do you like best about it?
It's pretty unusual. :)

What do you like least about it?
A few things: people can never pronounce or spell it; I constantly get things from England addressed to Mr. Darcy Krasne; and everyone always makes the comparison to Jane Austen's Mr. Darcy. Although in England that was occasionally varied with mentions of Darcey Bussell, so you'd really think that they might be able to realize there was a possibility that I'm not male.

If you had to change your name (witness protection program, whatever), what would you want it to be?
Hmm. That's something I've never thought about. I might choose the name of a favorite character, or I might pick something else. I really don't know.
On a related note, though, if I ever go back and attempt to erase my fanfic from showing up under my name on Google, I'll probably use Arcita as a handle.

Comments

[kwokj.livejournal.com]

I'm not surprised that the Czech and Polish for your name are the same. My friends and I watched a surrealist Slovakian (I think) film and my polish friend said there was a ton of overlap. And then a character served a dish called ptasie meleszko (sp?) which means birds milk, and even I recognized it, since my friend used to serve me a polish marshmallow candy called the same. Most of the polish terms she taught me came from candy :P

[kwokj.livejournal.com]

the movie is called Zahrada http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0115040/ I love it.

I find it odd that they list it as a comedy. Certainly, I laughed, but watching it with a literal mindset that you would normally with a comedy would be silly.

[sovay]

I found this out in seventh grade, when our Latin teacher researched all of our names in order to give us Latin names; mine was Arcita

That's a pretty awesome Latin name.

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

What does your first name mean?
According to the most reliable sources (whatever these may be), Darcy means "dweller in the fortress." [...] (It can also, naturally, simply mean "from Arcy," Arcy apparently being an island [or town] somewhere in France.)

I first encountered the name when I was eight, when there was a Gareth D'Arcy in my class at school. He told me he could trace his ancestry back to the D'Arcy that came over with William the Conqueror, so I always assumed it was simply "of Arcy". Which does not, of course, rule out Darcy being of different origin.

When I was twenty-nine I wrote a story set in the fifteenth century; being at one stage in need of a surname from that period, and being too lazy to go and research one, I used the name D'Arcy, remembering the above. You may be surprised to learn that as late as that I had never heard of Mr Darcy from Pride and Prejudice. (I have now, however, read the book.)

As a result of the above, it took me a while after first encountering you to stop getting narked that you spelled your name wrong. :o) (I wouldn't be surprised if livredor had the opposite reaction reading my story.)

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

Arcy apparently being an island [or town] somewhere in France.)

Google Maps shows several Arcys, one of which is in the Île-de-France, which is not an island but an area of France around Paris. This might possibly where the confusion came from..?

[darcydodo]

which is not an island but an area of France around Paris.

I do know that... :)

This might possibly where the confusion came from..?

No, I've seen references to Arcy being an island off the north coast.

Thanks for the map links!

[lethargic-man.livejournal.com]

ISland off the north coast of France? We call that <unnecessarily slowly and deliberately> Great Britain.
 W/
;^b~~~~
 M\

[hukuma.livejournal.com]

I don't know how much the Soviets had to do to appropriate Red Square to fit in with communist symbols, since it conveniently was already called Red before they came to power. But one cute fact is that they switched the name of political leanings between left and right, so that communism became the far right thing to be. (Right has many of the same double meanings in Russian as in English.)

[darcydodo]

since it conveniently was already called Red before they came to power

Well, that was the question -- the story that I've heard (and all over the world, too!) is that it was already called Krasne, but that Krasne used to mean "beautiful" (instead of, what, prekrasnaya, or something?) and not "red."

they switched the name of political leanings

That's hilarious. :)

[hukuma.livejournal.com]

No, I don't think they changed the meaning of Krasny; it used to mean both "red" and "beautiful", but a long long time ago, the more common word for beautiful became "krasivy/krasivaya".

[darcydodo]

Gotcha. That's useful to know. :)