Baby names

Thanks to all who have written with name suggestions for our little boy. We haven't really felt inclined toward any besides Rohan, though, for some reason. I guess it was Sameer who suggested that name a couple months back.

We figure it's easy enough to pronounce in any language and I like that it's also an English name as well as Hindi. In fact, it is the name of a place in the Lord of the Rings books (the riders of Rohan...), which were some of my favorite stories growing up. We've tried the name out on tons of people and it always gets a very good reaction (not just, oh, cute, but more like, hey, that's a really cool name). If anyone knows of any reason why we shouldn't go with this name, now's the time to let us know, though...

As far as meaning goes, I've seen different ones suggested.

One site says it's of Irish/Gaelic and Sanskrit origins, meaning "red-haired" or "ascending". Hmmm, that would be funny if he turned out with red hair. Wouldn't wish that on him... That same site says it's also a popular surname. Variations include Roane and Royan and it's related to the name Rowan.

A nicer meaning is close to ascending - to rise, to climb, to attain great heights. Could be inspiring, eh? Also saw "the one who takes the higher path".

Regarding the use as a surname, apparently the Rohans were a family line from a place in Brittany that was also called Rohan. These viscounts, dukes and princes supposedly played an important role in European history with ties to British and French royalty.

I've seen in places that it's commonly pronounced with the "h" silent, so rather than ro-han, it becomes ro-an. The Irish pronunciation is apparently more like ro-wyn. It seems that people named Rohan get most frustrated when it's mispronounced with the han part more like the han in hand (that would be the redneck pronunciation I guess). I also saw online that some mispronounce it as ro-hon. The "a" in "han" is soft, like the word "a", just in case you were saying it like "hand" or "hon" before.

Another site says it means "sandalwood" in Hindi, as in the type of tree. We like the fragrant scent of sandalwood, so that works... That's Sameer's favorite type of soap, ha ha.

Not-so-interesting fact: In 2006 Rohan was the 521st most popular boy's name in the US.

It seems it can also be a girl's name in rare cases.

In Hungarian, it means "rushing" (e.g., to catch a train), a form of the verb rohanni, to rush.

ROHAN is the name for the Academic Computing Web Server at San Diego State University, named after the Lord of the Rings place.

I believe it is also used as the name of a role play video game in beta, set in the continent of Rohan.

Well, that's my research for now. We quite like the name, though I must say I was surprised by the variations in pronunciation.