3D artist and Boston-native Nila Latimore and Anders Latimore, a programmer, live in Sweden, Anders’s country of origin. On December 12, 2020, they welcomed a son named Atlas Lucian Vidar.
We spoke with Nila about cross-cultural style, Swedish name trends, and baby namingabroad.
I was thinking to myself, “Okay, we have to incorporate both of us.” I’m really big on Space,so I’ve always been attracted to celestial names. Once I realized that Atlas is celestial, it ties into our love for metal, and it is super strong, I was like, “If we ever have a boy, he’ll becalled Atlas.” Luckily, it was already chosen, because we didn’t have a girls’ name at all.
I always knew I wanted two middle names for him. I like the sound of long names. Atlas’s name feels prestigious, it has weight to it. I’m not very religious, but I feel like names are a way to bestow meaning onto the person. If someone has a name with strength, hopefully, that child will have that inner strength. It was always very important to me that he has as much as I can possibly give him early on.
I’ve had a note in my phone for years with all the names that I like. Anders and I went through them and got a feel of what both of us are good with. For him, it was really important that the name sounds good in Swedish as well. One of the names that I wanted was Cyrus, it’s pronounced like SEE-rus in Swedish, and that can sound like a different word, so there was a lot of discussion about that sort of thing.
Very early on I had a list of middle names, and I knew I wanted one of them to be Nordic to represent his heritage. We were also going through Old Norse names that would fit well. My husband came across Vidar. I thought it was cool, so I looked into it more. He’s a Norse god — one of the few that survives Ragnarök — and he avenges Odin’s death. Vidar is called the Silent God and it didn’t seem like there were any negatives to his mythology, which is pretty rare. It’s pronounced the same in English and Swedish, so we went for that!
Lucian was very last minute. I had a shortlist of maybe six names, but Atlas came five weeks early. I had a really rough pregnancy, I had placenta previa and was in and out of the hospital fifteen times. One of the things with that shortlist was making sure that the meanings were related to health or light or anything extremely positive because my pregnancy had been so hard, especially during COVID.
Atlas’s birthday is the 12th, the day before Santa Lucia’s Day, which is a big holiday here in Sweden. Every news channel was playing Santa Lucia music and there’s this tradition of little girls and boys having candles. It was a very cozy atmosphere, even in the hospital, so Lucian really made sense.
I made sure that Atlas was a name that was around here, and it was — around 200 boys were given the name in 2019. There are a few places where Atlas is very common as street names and stuff like that. So it wasn’t something that was unheard of, it’s just not as popular as it is in the States. A lot of Swedes stick with the Top 20 names for both genders. Every time I tell someone my baby’s name, they are like, “Atlas, really?”
I really didn’t like my name as a child, but I think it taught me a lot about accepting myself. It helped me embrace my uniqueness. I wanted his name to be different enough that it could challenge him to be someone who can be unique and be okay with it.
I really like Atreyu — it’s out there, but I love it. There’s a band called Atreyu that Anders and I really like, and the boy in The Neverending Story is so sweet.
I love Evren, the Turkish name, for a boy. I caught myself almost saying it to Atlas the other day.
I also have Cree, Koa, Lowen, Salem — but here Salem would be pronounced sah-LEEM, and there are a lot of Salems here, actually. For Norse names we had Torsten on our list, but it’s kind of a grandpa name here. There are a lot of Torstens, a lot of Torbjörns, which I also love. Torbjörn means “Thor’s bear” and Torsten means “Thor’s stone.”
Even when I go to the doctor, I get called by my middle name, Dominique. It’s easier than trying to figure out Nila! Since it’s a common practice, I wanted Atlas to have good middle names so that if Atlas doesn’t resonate with him, he can go by Lucian or Vidar.
Classic J names for boys like Johan and Josef. Jurgen is getting a lot more popular — that’s also an old dude’s name. Kirsten, Johanna, Josefine, Charlotta — I know several — Emma, of course. Mikaela, but girls often go by Mika. The names here are a bit more traditional, but Old Norse names are coming back, which is really cool.
I think when you’re a name addict it starts early. I was naming all of my dolls, my TVs even — that’s where I’m coming from. When it came to actually naming a person, I was like, “Oh man, I have to get this right!”
And more generally, it’s nice to be able to tie in your personalities. I think that’s more important than certain trends that are happening wherever you live. If what’s important to you as a couple is keeping tradition alive, or you want boldness or creativity, or if being intellectual is your thing, then those themes within your partnership should be reflected in a baby name.
Thank you so much, Nila!
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Sophie Kihm has been writing for Nameberry since 2015. She has contributed stories on the top 2020s names, Gen Z names, and cottagecore baby names. Sophie is Nameberry’s resident Name Guru to the Stars, where she suggests names for celebrity babies. She also manages the Nameberry Instagram and Pinterest.
Sophie Kihm's articles on names have run on People, Today, The Huffington Post, and more. She has been quoted as a name expert by The Washington Post, People, The Huffington Post, and more. You can follow her personally on Instagram or Pinterest, or contact her at [email protected]. Sophie lives in Chicago.
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