Penumbra or Baily? 100 names for babies born or conceived during the solar eclipse
Somewhere, someplace, a baby will either be born or made during the historic total solar eclipse on Aug. 21.
Might we suggest the child be named Corona? Or Penumbra? Or Baily, for the “Baily’s bead” effect, meaning the few rays of sunlight — Aren’t all babies a ray of sunshine? —that are visible just before or after the moon blots out the face of the sun.
Decide as you will, but here are a few totally cosmic names for a totally awesome event.
Sol, Latin for sun.
Luna, Latin for moon
Penumbra, name for the moon’s faint outer shadow.
Umbra, the moon’s dark inner shadow.
Corona, the superhot upper atmosphere of the sun.
Diamond, for the bright point of light, like a diamond ring, that shines just before or after totality.
Celestia, Celesse, Celeste, Celestina, all some version of heaven or heavenly.
The site momjunction.com offers 52 names that relates to the sun in some form. They include:
Elio, Aditya, Apollo, Cyrus, Arun, Eliana, Eleodoro, Samson, Surya, Roshan, Phoebus, Levant, Sharik, Cymbeline, Aelius, Sol, Ravi, Blaze, Ishan, Aarush, Aftab, Anshul, Ra, Freyr, Sun, Easter, Elaine, Aine, Arunika, Elidi, Helen, Marisol, Oriana, Idalia, Sunniva, Soleil, Thea, Savita, Sarita, Siria, Solange, Malina, Kalinda, Kyra, Arpina, Solana, Sunshine, Apollonia, Alba, Solveig, Sunday, Aurora and Summer.
The same site offers even more names related to the moon or moons, including: Badar or Bader, Qamar, Tuncay, Aku, Badru, Purnama, Aibek, Jericho, Ramachandra, Chandra, Chandru, Ilkay, Koray, Marama, Nana, Pulan, Chan, Iahm, Chandrakant, Kale, Arche, Atlas, Hang, London, Mahrukh, Mayar, Muraco, Quacey, Shashank, Oberon, Neil, Io, Hilal, Proteus, Triton, Meztli, Rakesh, Janus, Astennu, Himanshu, Neoma, Neomi, Badriyah, Hala, Amaris, Jaci, Jyotsna, Lucine, Candra, Hakidonmuya, Kamaria, Luna, Deva, Diana, Artemis, Chandra, Cynthia, Delia, Phoebe, Selena, Crescent, Aisha, Alcmene, Aysun, Aylin, Aysu, Maha, Mahina, Mahvash, Monday, Purnima, Pensri, Mahnaz, Zelenia, Nokomis, Larissa, Portia, Mona, Elara, Quila, Callisto, Helene and Thalassa.
Other moon-related choices might include Indu, Lewana, Luciana and Soma and Menodora.
On such a happy day, you could also go with just plain Sunny.
This story was originally published August 16, 2017 at 8:41 AM with the headline "Penumbra or Baily? 100 names for babies born or conceived during the solar eclipse."