Mum-of-two Sophia gave both to her sons unusual names – and says more parents should be brave enough to do the same
It’s a question parents-to-be agonise over for months: what to call their little bundle of joy. Should you opt for a top 10 baby name, and risk them being in the same class with five other Olivers and Amelias? Or should you go for something highly unusual and run the gauntlet of the many, many questions you’re bound to face over the next 18 years?
One mum who went viral for giving her son a very unusual name says she’s glad she made her choice – but still gets irritated with people who pronounce it wrong.
Writer Sophia Lamprey picked a special name for her firstborn child back in 2020, and knew from the instant she saw him on her pregnancy ultrasound what she was going to call him.
She picked it out from an Agatha Christie novel, and when she found out it means ‘loved’ in Latin, knew that it was the perfect choice for her precious baby. Before she saw him on her 20-week scan, his name wasn’t even in her top 10 favourite boys’ list, but it flashed through her mind as soon as the ultrasound technician told her she was having a boy.
But even after she says his name out loud, some people still get his pronunciation wrong. Despite the difficulties some have with his name, Sophia and her husband went a step further and gave their second son an even more unusual name, which she says she “absolutely loves” because there’s “a story behind them”.
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Now aged six, little Amyas is at school and while there’s no other boy in his class with the same name, Sophia says she has never worried about him being picked on for his name.
“I’m absolutely not worried about him being teased about his name. We’re really fortunate that Amyas has lovely peers,” she says. “When he started childminders, preschool and now school, he has always received compliments from adults. Children don’t seem to comment much on his name but I believe it’s because we have such a variety of names nowadays that it doesn’t faze them.”
But it’s always adults who get his name wrong – even after Sophia explains how Amyas’ name should be pronounced.
“I still get irritated when people get his name wrong, but it now happens after I explain how to pronounce it,” she says. “It’s always ‘A-my-us’. It honestly doesn’t make sense to me because if you spell it phonically, it’s ‘Am-yas’.”
Amyas, who is non-speaking, now refuses to respond if people don’t say his name correctly. “He has never given the impression that he doesn’t like his name,” says his mum. “To him, it’s his name and nothing else could replace it. But that could change as he gets older. If people mispronounce his name, he just doesn’t respond.”
When Sophia found out she was expecting again, she and her husband decided to find an even more unusual name for the second son, and borrowed inspiration from one of their favourite authors.
Little Pantalaimon is 11 months old and his name is inspired by Lyra Belacqua’s brave daemon in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy. Nicknaming him ‘Pan’ for short, Sophia and her husband also love the connection to the Greek god of the wild, the satyr Pan.
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“With my second child, we didn’t tell people the name until after he was born so we didn’t get any unsolicited comments or advice,” says Sophia. “But when he was born, everyone loved his name. We actually get asked about the story behind it and people often guess correctly. It’s such a good conversation starter.”
And what’s really in a name? According to scientists, the name parents pick out for their offspring can shape their very sense of self – so no pressure there, mums and dads.
“Because a name is used to identify an individual and communicate with the individual on a daily basis, it serves as the very basis of one’s self-conception, especially in relation to others,” David Zhu, a professor of management and entrepreneurship at Arizona State University, said in 2021.
And Gordon Allport, who helped launch the study of personality psychology, said as far back as 1961 that “the most important anchorage to our self-identity throughout life remains our own name”.
So what should parents do? “I think people are worried about other people’s views,” says Sophia. “My advice is just go for it. I absolutely love that my children don’t have names like everyone else. Their names have meaning; a story behind them. I hope people feel braver to try different names from the past or from other languages.”
But if they have a third child, Sophia and her partner may be a little stuck for inspiration.
“After Amyas and Pan, we’ll be struggling to find cool names,” she laughs. “Though if my husband has his way, our next boy will be called Bilbo from Lord of the Rings!”
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