Dance name

[galadhir]

So, every time I sign up to do a solo, there's a place on the form for my dancer's pseudonym, and every time it makes me think 'should I have a dance name?' and 'if I should, what should it be?

I don't feel happy about just awarding myself an Arabic name, so these are the three choices I've managed to come up with:

• Ursula Ogg - after Ursula the octopus villain, and Nanny Ogg the witch. I'll be honest, the main driver for choosing either of these names is that I'm fat. Nanny Ogg is my favorite Discworld witch, but I feel no connection to the idea of witchery in general, and if I was to choose a favorite villain, Ursula wouldn't be on that list at all. So basically I just chose this because they were two cool people who were also fat.

• AElfgifu - means 'Elf-gift' and is my favourite Anglo-Saxon name. I am Anglo-Saxon myself so this would be a safe cultural bet.

• Athalia - means 'God is exalted' and is a Biblical name. I would like for my name to exalt God, and there's a long tradition among Christians to grab names out of the Bible, so if it's cultural appropriation, it's a long standing one.

Now I've put them all down I think Ursula is off the table and I just need some help choosing between AElfgifu and Athalia.

I feel more of a personal connection to AElfgifu through my years of Anglo-Saxon re-enactment, but I might need to give pronunciation tips with it, which would be a faff. (It's pronounced 'Alfg-aye-vuh')

On the other hand Athalia would be a new start, it doesn't require an Old English primer to pronounce, and of all the names it's the only one that made my heart leap a little.

What do you think? Athalia? Something else entirely?

(There's a lady I follow on Tumblr who is of a similar build to me and her dance name is Ursa Major, which I think is fantastic.)

Comments

[pattrose]

If you'd like to throw another name out I love the Greek name Thais. (Thay-iss) it means, beloved, beautiful, goddess. A nice name to think about.

[galadhir]

Thanks for the suggestion! But I don't want to make any kind of claims about my own attractiveness or worthy qualities. I feel like that might be boasting, and I couldn't live up to it. Also I have some issues with gender that make feminine names feel awkward - an advantage to Athalia is that it's unisex.

[kazzy_cee]

*waves* I've added you too.

Just my opinion, but whatever you decide, make sure it's easy to announce. A complex name will turn out to be pronounced incorrectly, which is pointless. I like the last one.

[galadhir]

Thank you! Mutual high five :)

Yes, I've been turning over methods of spelling AElfgifu to make sure it's pronounced as I want it to be pronounced. The closest I can get is Elfgyva, which is weird but might do.

I've unfortunately just looked up 'Athalia belly dancer' on Google and discovered that there is a reasonably well known Athallia in NYC who charges $250 per performance, and now I'm like hmmm... If I wanted to avoid confusion I'd probably need to add a surname to that, and that sends me back to the lists to pick something else to add to it. And I don't think I can support two names. I'm just not that good!

[malinaldarose]

If you wanted to use AElfgifu, you would probably have to change it to a more phonetic spelling -- Alfgyva or something along those lines, and even then you'd probably have to still tell people how to pronounce it.

I like the suggestion of Thais, but again, pronunciation issues.

Athalia is pretty and musical.

[galadhir]

Alas, I've just found out that Athalia is taken by a professional dancer in New York, which means I would have to add a surname or something to differentiate myself, and that's starting to get too complicated.

There is a variant - Atalya - which is not claimed yet. I don't like it as much but it's a definite possibility. Thanks for focussing my mind :)

[lucy_roman]

I like Athalia.

[galadhir]

Sadly I've just found out that there is already a professional dancer in New York called Athalia, and I couldn't steal her name. There is a variant of the name - Atalya - that nobody's using however, and I'm seriously thinking about that one instead.

[lucy_roman]

That's nice too.

[galadhir]

Thank you!

[watervole]

I like AElfgifu, even if I pronounce it all wrong!

[watervole]

But I do like the reply that suggested an alternative spelling.

[galadhir]

Yes, that would certainly work better :)

[galadhir]

I do like AElfgifa too, and it might work as Elfgyva. Or I could go for an easier Anglo-Saxon name and choose Elfrida. Elfrida, meaning 'the strength of the elves' is a great name for fibromyalgia, when you don't know whether normal or incapacitated from moment to moment, but it's a bit dull otherwise.

[watervole]

Elfgyva and Elfrida are both good. Prefer the first overall.

[galadhir]

Yes, me too! Thanks :)

[mistressofmuses]

Athalia would certainly require less in terms of pronunciation coaching... but I think you should go for the one that you connect with best. If people find it difficult to say, that's their problem. I like both names! I think I maybe have a slight preference for AElfgifu (though I did the pronunciation help, ha.)

[galadhir]

I feel like Elfgyva is a more flamboyant name than Atalya, and I'm not good enough to live up to flamboyant (yet?) I possibly need something a bit more retiring (that only I know is the name of a queen who murdered most of her family so she could rule alone.) So I think I've narrowed it down to Atalya now, but it was a struggle :)

[mistressofmuses]

That is a fair point: I agree that Elfgyva would be much more flamboyant. Atalya is a bit more mellow, while still having flair to it. (Even if it does have a bit of secret drama behind it, haha.) I'm glad you like it!

[galadhir]

Thank you!

[dreamersdare]

For what it's worth, I thought Athalia from those options too, for exactly the same reason on AElfgifu - you will spend your entire time either telling people how to pronounce it, or correcting ear-jarringly painful mispronunciations.

[galadhir]

Yes, I think it's the sensible decision. It turns out that there's already a professional dancer called Athalia, but a variant - Atalya - is unclaimed, so I'm going to go with that :)

[dreamersdare]

Also a nice choice!

[galadhir]

Thank you!