Summer and I really struggled to find a name for our Beetle. For months we batted around a bunch of names, then a few names, but nothing felt quite right.
The name couldn't be
too common. So I was interested for a time in using Oleaster, which is not really a name but is a species of wild olive tree. Oleaster had the added benefit of being a Latin word that appeared favorably in works by Virgil, Ovid, and Lucretius.
But it wasn't
really a name. (And Summer thought it sound a little too much like Olestra -- yikes.)
Then Summer stumbled across a poem by New England poet Mary Oliver, "The Summer Day," that stuck with me. It ends: "Tell me, what is it you plan to do / with your one wild and precious life?" And I said to Summer, "Haven't you always liked Oliver as a name?" Indeed, Oliver had been on Summer's name lists for years -- since before we knew Madeline would be a girl -- but I'd had reservations I couldn't put my finger on.
Spurred by "The Summer Day," I read three books of Mary Oliver's poems --
Twelve Moons,
Why I Wake Early, and
The Leaf and the Cloud. They were great. And, more importantly, there were references to Beetles:
When loneliness comes stalking, go into the fields, consider
the orderliness of the world. Notice
something you have never noticed before,
like the tambourine sound of the snow-cricket
whose pale green body is no longer than your thumb.
Stare hard at the hummingbird, in the summer rain,
shaking the water-sparks from its wings.
...
A lifetime isn’t long enough for the beauty of this world
and the responsibilities of your life.
...
Be good-natured and untidy in your exuberance.
In the glare of your mind, be modest.
And beholden to what is tactile, and thrilling.
Live with the beetle, and the wind.
It was time to check out Oliver in more detail. The name's etymology is uncertain, but it seems to appear in one form or another throughout most of northern Europe, fairly capturing our heritage. And it is most likely derived either from the olive tree -- fruitfulness, beauty, dignity, peace -- which is great, or from something to do with elves, which is ok.
Also, there is -- or rather was -- at least one species of beetle known as
Allodessus oliveri. And finally, Oliver would allow us to use Allen as a middle name and make sure both families were represented in Beetle's name without resulting in problematic initials (try using Allen as a middle name for, say, Felix Greene).
All was beginning to settle into place.
We still were not absolutely certain until after Beetle's birth that he would be Oliver, but by the time we had to make it official, we were comfortable with our choice. So Oliver he is. And it seems to suit him.
