I have been saving post ideas for quite some time now. In fact, that's how this blog came to be. It started as a list of things I'd love to see happening the blogging world. There will be games and collaborations, interviews, profiles, lists galore, so many great things to come here on Marginamia. This said, it took me under two seconds to figure out what my first post was going to be.
Being that I cited them as a perfect example of the kind of thing this blog is all about, I would be remiss not to feature Artemis and Nao as our first example of the space where human creativity and beautiful, marginal names coexist (venn diagram, anyone?)
The overlap won't be so very direct every time; it won't always be the case that the people, ideas, or crafts profiled are also the bearers of the profiled names. But for our first post, let us look at a great example of wonderfully creative people wearing wonderfully unique names.
I think it's safe to say that I've never seen a pair of names this pretty on a couple. Then there's what they do and how they live, which is the really interesting stuff.
Artemis and Nao are wife and husband (Their DIY wedding is worth a look) collaborative jewelers, thrifters, crafters, designers and awesome-name wearers.
Their shop, Rust, has the most beautiful wedding rings, along side many other pretty pieces. And what about the name Rust? I think it's a strong, beautiful name.
Nao scouts vintage leather bags and restores them in his Nao shed, while Artemis crafts, designs and sells vintage clothing and home goods in her Artemis shed.
I hope they name their sheds.
Her shop is called The Bucket Tree.
And my quest for pretty, vintage, white pieces is officially over. Artemis is every bit as lovely as her name, no? Isn't it amazing how well this name fits? I can't fathom her wearing any other.
Now for those stunning names of theirs:
Nao: What a beautiful name! I love that it's short, simple, and has the -o ending. As a general rule, I love names ending in -o. We almost gave our second daughter a Japanese name, Umi, and we did give her a short-n-simple, ends in -o name. According to several sources the name is a Japanese unisex name and loosely means 'honesty'.
Artemis: So the other reason that this profile called out to me as the first post is that Artemis is my current name crush. If I were having a baby girl right now, she might very well be an Artemis. In fact, she would be Artemis Ritabelle (not that I'm thinking too much about it). The name is of Greek origin and is from mythology. She's one of my favorites from mythology. I love her connection to nature (particularly deer) and childbirth, as well as her strength. She has several variants and related names (she asked her father for many names:
Artemisia, Luna, Cynthia, and Diana(the Roman equivalent).
The other virgin goddesses and their variants or Roman equivalents are: Athena, Hestia, Vesta, and Minerva. (Oh the loveliness of all of these!)
I will end here, as musing on mythological names could very well go to the end of the Milky Way and back before I come back to my senses.
I adore both these names on their own, but paired together they become music, a perfect pairing of sounds. If there were nothing else pulling this couple together (you know, like mutual interests and love and stuff), they would still have to connect so that there could be a pairing of these two names somewhere in this universe. These names just work together, much like this couple, and they are as rich and interesting, too.
What a great example of names imitating life, or life imitating names.
What about you guys--any favorite name pairs out there in the?
What are your favorites from mythology?
Nao and Artemis are an unexpected pair of names to see together, but surprisingly refreshing. As an aside, how exactly is Nao pronounced? I keep wanting to say it like the word, now, but that doesn't feel right?
ReplyDeleteI used to read a series of books called Artemis Fowl, and the eponymous character was a male, not a female. Personally, I'm a huge fan of the name Luna and indeed Minerva and Vesta as well.
According to several sources the name Nao is pronounced NAH-o, but according to a few others, there's a variation with a long a sound, as well. Either are beautiful. Maybe they'll chime in and tell us how, at least, his is pronounced.
ReplyDeleteI like Luna a lot, too. Vesta and Minerva just absolutely floor me, though.... so, so fresh and pretty.