David Russell Mosley

24 May 2014

On the Edge of Elfland

Beeston, Nottinghamshire

Dear Friends and Family,

I’m sorry I haven’t written lately. For those who don’t know, my wife just gave birth to our twin boys on 1 May 2014. We’re excited, tired (exhausted really), and learning what this parenting thing is all about. Today, I wanted to write to you about my sons’ names.

I’m not sure when I first learned that names have meaning. I’m sure it was around the time I became a Christian (around 13 years old) and started reading the Bible. The etymologies of names in the Old Testament opened my eyes to the fact that most names are words in a given language with a given meaning. Once I learned this, naming became incredibly important to me. It seems to me, though I haven’t developed a philosophy or theology of this yet, that names are important. Names have an effect on the thing named. Whether its the etymology or history (others so named) naming, when taken seriously, I think will affect the life of a child.

Therefore, my wife and I did not enter into naming our children lightly. We had settled rather early on that our firstborn boy would be called Theodore which means gift of God (for most meanings, I rely on the website behindthename.com). So, let me tell you about our boys’ names, why we chose them, and what they mean.

Our firstborn, who came into the world at 12:36, is called Theodore Nicholas George Mosley.

Theodore

I already mentioned what Theodore means (gift of God, from Latin). We wanted to ensure that our firstborn was dedicated to God. No matter the roles we played in bringing our children into the world, they are still a gift from God.

Nicholas

Nicholas is Greek in origin and means victory of the people. This name we didn’t chose precisely for its etymology (though I could easily theologise it). Rather we chose it because our church here in Nottingham and the saint whose name it bears. St Nicholas was a fourth century bishop from what is today Turkey (he was bishop of Myra). His feast day is 6 December. He was known for his generosity and his defense of Nicene orthodoxy. As it would happen, however, Nicholas is also the masculine form and the source for my mother-in-law’s name Collette.

George

George is another Greek name and means farmer. This is a rather fitting name given both that I come from farming stock. However, this name was chosen more specifically for two reasons. The primary reason is it is the name of my late maternal grandfather. Grandpa George, whom I only had the privilege of knowing until I was about seven, was an excellent man. I loved going with him in the morning to raise the flag in his elderly community. We also chose this name because of the patron saint of England. St George was a Cappadocian born Christian who, according to tradition, rebuked Diocletian for persecuting Christians. He was subsequently tortured and martyred for the faith. His feast day is 23 April. George is also known as a dragon slayer, which makes him all the more an excellent namesake for boys of mine.

Our second son, who came into the world at 12:37, is called Edwyn Arthur Russell Mosley.

Edwyn

Edwyn is Anglo-Saxon in origin and means bliss friend. In some folklore, and particularly in the early works of Tolkien, is often paired with the name Alfwin (Ælfwine, Alvin, Elwin, etc.) which means elf-friend. That alone would make it (if not Elwin) an excellent name for one of my children. However, even more so, it is the name of a Northumbrian Anglo-Saxon king and saint (St Edwin). Yet there is one more reason we chose it. My father-in-law’s name is Edward (bliss-guard) and we wanted to represent him in our names as well, so both are Ed (bliss).

Arthur

Arthur is one of those names where we don’t know what it means. It could be Welsh in origin and mean bear; it could be from the Roman surname Arturius. Whatever the case, we chose it as representing our time here in England since it is the name of perhaps the most famous king who ever lived on this island.

Russell

Russell is French in origin. It comes from a French surname meaning little red one. Now it seems unlikely Edwyn will be a ginger (though he and his brother may have some in their beards as I do). This is, however, my middle name is the first name of my father. We wanted to make sure that represented our families as much as possible.

Mosley/Perkins/Peterson

Our surname is Mosley which is English surname meaning, probably, the mossy lea, or the mouse’s lea. However, this is an adopted surname. When my father was about a year old his father died and his mother remarried a man called Mosley. Originally, my father’s surname was Perkins, a Welsh surname which means son or kin of Peter. Coincidentally, my wife’s maiden name is Peterson (though not spelled the usual way, her maiden name is Danish in origin), which of course means the same thing.

Names are important, and our children have been named after kings, saints, and family. What effect these names will have on them I cannot predict. I can say, however, that being so dedicated to God and named after those who were as well, they will undoubtedly in some way help bring God’s kingdom to Earth as we await Christ’s return.

Sincerely yours,

David Russell Mosley

P.S. It is also important that by sheer happenstance, when we named our boys Theodore and Edwyn, we had not realised at first that we had given them excellent twin nicknames, Teddy and Eddy.