View Message

[Facts] Drake
Okay, now I'm beginning to get rather frustrated. And I need to settle something. The majority of baby name sites I look through, lists Drake as Old English/English for Dragon, but a rare few sites list it as also meaning or only meaning Duck.There is a debate going on in my family right now, I and my fiancee say it means Dragon and my Dad says it means Duck, and regardless of any other meanings people will assume, Duck as the meaning.The reason I'd like to sort this out, is because the baby I'm carrying is a boy, and we've decided on Alexander Drake as a name. I need to know the educated view on this. If anybody can help me out, it would be appreciated.
vote up1vote down

Replies


I know it's terrible to have people arguing over the name that you want to give your baby, especially when it's a name you really like. My Mom didn't want me to name my little girl Julia because she had known someone in the distant past with that name.I did it anyway! Drake means Duck, it means Dragon. Both names have a kind of dignity, a fierce dignity in the case of dragon. If you doubt the dignity of a duck you need to read Make Way for Ducklings.Tell them to go to Hell!
vote up1vote down
Were I to see a name such as Alexander Drake, I would probably think as well of the etymology from the Latin 'Draco' (why would someone even add mention to the Harry Potter books, as Rowling draws directly from LATIN, one needs only to reference Latin, to include the idea in Harry Potter-which by the way, does utilize Draco as a name, and that never occured to me as 'duck'), I think it would only make people think duck if his first name were to be something like 'sitting', or 'hunted' and you shant do that anyway....
vote up1vote down
Just to let you know, I think Alexander Drake is a famous artist?
vote up1vote down
Belated, but...http://www.m-w.com/cgi-bin/dictionary?book=Dictionary&va=drakeA dictionary is useful for this one too, given that it's a noun as well as a name.
"I like this phrase, 'pleasure calculus.' Is it truly as erotic as advertised?"
http://www.qwantz.com/index.pl?comic=599
vote up1vote down
Drake means both 'dragon' *and* 'male duck' I'm afraid. But as it's going to be a middle name, and the word 'drake' isn't in common use, I don't think it'll be a huge problem.
ChrisellAll we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien.

vote up1vote down
In Latin, and in the Harry Potter books, Draco is the word for Dragon. It is also the origin of our English word: dragon (since the most usual form of the word Draco would have an N at the end ... dracon(is), etc). I'll tell you more if you want me to ... most people want to fit me with a silencer at this point!However, Drake is a surname in English (think Sir Francis Drake, who sailed around the world for Queen Elizabeth the First), so it seems to fit in well as a middle name. Some might still think of some cartoon relatives of Donald Duck, but I don't think it'd ever be an issue. It's pretty unusual for people to even know the difference between a male and a female duck unless they're hunters or poultry farmers.
vote up1vote down
Ignore - wrong place
ChrisellAll we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us. - J.R.R. Tolkien.

This message was edited 8/18/2005, 3:41 AM

vote up1vote down