Posted by Sidonie The name also contains too many staccatoed, unvoiced notes for me to think it attractive. Outside of Shakespeare and apart from the Uranian satellite, my next reference is the imagist poet H.D. who, styling herself the ghost of Hermione, made flesh that morose delusion which overruns her work by naming her daughter Perdita. Dita is a fine nickname; my only concern is that it might devolve to 'Ditzy'. I myself am partial to petite, which presents itself all too easily.
on 8/14/2006, 6:52 am, in reply to "name i've been obsessing over"
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Perdita's etymological base is sound enough for me not to regard it as contrived or unusable on that point. It is in light of the deeper, associative implications of this etymology in a Christian context that I question anyone who would burden a child with it; that goes as well for atheists who may ignore the religious overtones of names altogether. The roots of the name are still close to the surface, and anyone with a working knowledge of the Romance languages can pick out a number of unsavoury connotations ranging from paucity of intellect to eternal lustration of one's soul in hellfire. 
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