After a protracted search, N has come up with a name for our future son:
Eric Norbert.
“Eric” is a name he likes phonetically and “Norbert” is the name of some famous mathematician. And they both go with the last name.
A name database says that Eric is a name of somebody who loves travel and adventure and rejects traditions and conventions. I think that’s a great identity to have.
Clarissa's Blog 
Nice! Congratulations, Clarissa! Eric’s not a bad name at all. Short, sweet and to the point and easy for everyone to pronounce. I get annoyed when people spell or say my last name incorrectly. It’s pronounced SEV-ER-EENO and it’s apparently Italian even though my parents are Dominican. I heard that someone in my family actually has some type of inheritance in Italy or something like that.
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Nobody can pronounce my last name correctly, irrespective of their language or country of origin. 🙂 So I had to get used to have it mangled. The reason is that it isn’t a real last name and was created to conceal the Ukrainian origins of my grandparents in the USSR.
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Wonderful Clarissa, Eric is as connected as you are!
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Connected?
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Congratulations! Did you know that the first link, if you google Eric is
ERIC homepage, the Education Resources Information Center, is the world’s largest digital library of education literature.
?
Seems to suit. 🙂
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Ha!!! Phenomenal!!! I had no idea. 🙂
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Eric the Red and Norbert Weiner! YES!!
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Exactly! 🙂
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Congratulations!
Norbert Wiener?
Be prepared, though to get a lot of questions about Angry Beavers
Norbert Beaver
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I have to say, I didn’t know about the beavers. Hmmm. . . On the one hand, they are a Canadian symbol, so that’s good. But on the other hand they are less cool than, say, tigers. 🙂
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Pfft, tigers don’t build dams. Beavers are far cooler.
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This makes a lot of sense. 🙂
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Very good, both Eric and Norbert are old Norse names.
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Given how much I like Norway, this makes a lot of sense! 🙂
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My thoughts too. Full of history, mystery and myth. 🙂
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There is a Spanish variant of Norbert: Norberto. I know a mathematician with that name.
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Hispanic names are the best. But they sound horrible with Slavic last names. 🙂
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Norbert is an excellent choice for a second name. Eric, in my judgment is not a good first choice name.. It is a common name without any class to it. It is a widely used blue-collar name. Yet it would be hard for a young man to call himself Norbert as his chosen name.
I encourage N to think again. Winston, for example, is much more classy. And would go with any surname that the boy must inherit.
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I would have preferred Oliver but this wasn’t my decision. Winston is a very good name but are people likely to shorten it to Winnie?
There are so many beautiful names that are slaughtered with ugly diminutives. Andrew, Samuel, James.
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I hope it doesn’t turn out to be a popular name in his generation. These days, every other male student in my classes is Kevin and every other female student is Kayla or Ashley (Ashlee). Normally, people want to feel more unique.
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For curiosity’s sake the popularity of Eric through time.
Norbert’s popularity through time
Ironically you may see more Norberts than Erics — (I knew several Erics in my elementary school classes).
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Thank you! It’s great to know that there will probably not be a crowd of Erics in his school. 🙂
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I know several people with dogs named Winston in the U.S. – I think the name is seen as more pretentious than classy here. Eric is a lovely name, and certainly not associated with being “low class” in the U.S.
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I’m very happy as a low class person, so that’s fine anyway. 🙂
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was
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I think Eric is a very nice name. 🙂
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It has to be a name that all of the multi-lingual relatives will be able to pronounce. And that sounds good in many languages.
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I love the name Eric! And Norbert is a very sturdy middle name. As someone who cherishes both my first and middle name, I know how important it is for them to both fit. 🙂 They go nicely together.
I already have a name system picked out for my children. I’m partial to the names Zora, Ariel, or Celeste for a girl, and Leonard, Brennan, or Rowan for a boy. I like the idea of picking a middle name based on a beloved fictional character. Zora Minerva? Leonard Orlando? Names are so fun, but oh so important.
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Leonard was in the running, too, but I knew the Russian-speaking relatives would shorten it to Lyova, and I don’t like that.
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Lyova, on paper, sounds like the name of a cleaning solvent in a spray bottle. Oh dear.
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Leonard… my son’s middle name.
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I had no idea. Interesting!
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My two best friends from high school (with whom I am still very close) are named Eric and my dad’s middle name is Norbert, so needless to say I love the name you chose!
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Eric does seem to be popular in Quebec. But here in the US I never hear this name in graduation ceremonies.
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Not common at all in the US. I think I had one student whose name was Eric.
I should also mention that both my Eric friends are now happy, funny, brilliant, kind, and successful adults. Definitively a good name.
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Well… Éric. I think it was a popular name in QC in the 1970s.
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Eric is good. Congratulations on finalizing the choice. 🙂
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Eric van Douwen was a brilliant topologist, also.
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Ah, you see? This will be a fully mathematical name which is very fitting. 🙂
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Eric sounds great to me! As to Norbert, Norbert Wiener was the founder of cybernetics. 🙂
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Wow, you also know him! He must be really famous!
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Eric Lindros, lol
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I have an Uncle Norbert – part German – as kids my brother and I were in awe of the “Norbert Plane.” Teach your son to make kick-ass paper airplanes.
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I like the name Eric.
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Thank you. 🙂
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