View Message

I would assume the parents of an Arwen (or Eowyn or Aragorn or Gandalf) were huge LOTR fans, just as I assumed, correctly, that the parents of a little Anakin I met were Star Wars fanatics.

---

I don't know any Arwens, but I do know an Eowyn. Her parents are so into LOTR that they speak to each other in Elvish and don elaborate costumes to go to conventions. I'm not saying there's anything wrong with that--I'm a Trekker from way back who has been known to go to conventions in pointed ears and call my son "sa-fu," Vulcan for "son"--but it bothers me when fannish devotion spills over into the real-life naming of children. They could grow up to have very different interests and tastes, and I think it would be embarrassing to have an invented name obviously taken from someone else's obsession. Sorry for the tangent. I understand this wouldn't apply to you.

---

Bottom line, I wouldn't use one of these names unless I was a big, big fan, and I wanted the whole world to know it for the rest of my child's life. I love Welsh names, and there are many non-LOTR names with a similar feel and sound that could be used without the LOTR burden.