Rose names have been on my mind lately. Today, the name of the day over at Behind The Name is Roswitha. Not exactly the botanical Rose, I know, but intriguing nonetheless. I’m always been quite proud of my German descent, so I’m quite taken with the name. It’s got the traditionally feminine Ros- element, coupled with an unusual ending. Of course, the German pronunciation would be more like Ros-vee-ta than the intuitive-to-an-English speaker Ros-with-a. It’s just as well, since that pronunciation sounds a little like the beginning of a sentence; It was Roz with a gun, in the observatory! Appellation Mountain (a site I love and fully encourage visiting) has a great post on the Rose names. Her list is pretty thorough, so I’ll just talk about the ones I like, saving us all from griping. :D

First up is Rosemary. This is the one I return to most often. It’s sweet with just the right amount of sass. It’s currently 720 on the top thousand list, making her, I think, woefully underused. There’s a wealth of nicknames associated with this one: Rose, Mary, German favorite Romy, Rosie, and Roxy. Enough to fit any personality, right? It’s really a wonder the name is not more popular; the only excuse I can think of is the trend towards super feminine ending in a names instead of more sturdy choices. Like I said, I come to Rosemary often, so I have a few combos for it: Rosemary Athena Prudence, Rosemary Cecilia, Rosemary Cecilia Iris, Rosemary Philomena Blythe, and Rosemary Theresa. Like any?

Next on my Rose hitlist is Rosalind. I love its delicate sound and Shakespearean pedigree. I also love her colors (See wiki article on synaesthesia): a lovely delicate pink and green, like a floral teacup. My hesitation comes from the meaning: it comes from the Germanic elements hros, meaning horse, and linde, meaning soft. Soft horse? Not exactly the best meaning for a girl, especially if she ends up carrying a little extra weight. =/ I think the nickname Roz is nice in its own right (and a subtle nod to Roz from Frasier, why yes I am a dork) but the full Rosalind is so pretty I don’t think I’d use it. For the record, I use the Rose-a-lind pronunciation as opposed to the Roz-a-lind one. I can’t think of any combos for it currently, but I’ll try some off the cuff here: Rosalind Beryl, Rosalind Maria Pearl, Rosalind Joanna Clare, Rosalind Cordelia Jane.

After lovely Rosalind comes slightly more stodgy Rosamund (or Rosamond/e, I can never decide which). It’s stuffy in an endearing way and reminds me of my grandmother for no real reason. (She was a Margaret.) The colors for this one are like Rosalind’s, but darker, almost a maroony pink. Not the nicest, I guess, but goes right along with Rosamond’s stuffiness. I always have trouble with combinations for this one. The mund/mond element is so hard for me to pair; I have the same problem with Edmund. Any ideas?

Last on the list of elaborated Rose names is the new Roswitha. I probably wouldn’t use it, but I find it almost irresistibly contrary. It’s a pretty German name in a land of Irish and Italian fluffy names, it has an unintuitive pronunciation and a weird ending, and it’s just weird enough for me. If I didn’t love Rosemary so, I’d consider it more seriously in the middle, as sort of a tribute to my German heritage; of course I’d use the Ros-vee-ta pronunciation. I’ll have to mull over some combo ideas, but ideas are welcome, as always!

Besides these, I also like simple Rose and Rosa.  In the middle, Rose is played out, but it’s lovely in the front. And Rosa is a classic, in my humble opinion. It’s saucier than Rose and beautiful in its own right.

So ends my rant on Roses. If you got this far, congratulations! You’ve just read my first blog post. Comments are welcome and appreciated!