Hi Duana,
My husband and I are currently expecting our second at the end of April and we just found out that its a boy. I'm not going to lie, you have totally sold me on the name Damian - I love it so much, as does my husband. It's classic, uncommon but not unknown, and goes well as a sibling with our daughter's name. Inevitably a bunch of people are going to make jokes about this name choice - this is my only hesitation with this name. I'm not sure that I'm going to find another boy's name I love as much. We've tossed around Henry and Theodore, but neither feel quite right. How often will people really make 'son of the devil' comments, and is there a way you recommend to cope with this? And where do you weigh in on Damian vs Damien spelling (our last name is French if that helps)
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I don’t know how old you are, but I am old.
Here’s why this is relevant. The Omen came out in 1976. I actually thought it was later than that, I thought it was in ’79 but this is even better.
So the oldest people who were born when that movie was made and are also still of childbearing age (like, could have a child who’s a contemporary of yours) were three, maximum four years old. Frankly, half of them have never even seen the movie that references the name. The other half know it because someone old decided that they needed to see a horror movie from before they were born.
But seriously. I read recently that the average age at first birth is 29. That means that the average birth year of someone who gives birth six or eight or whatever months from now is 1985.
So you don’t need to worry about your kids’ friends (they’ll never know the difference, and you sure as hell won’t convince them to watch an old movie) and you don’t need to worry about your kids’ friends parents, or your friends, because they were likely born way after the movie and if you’re going to watch something from back then, you watch Fast Times At Ridgemont High or Alien or Kramer vs. Kramer.
Anyone who’s all “Ohhhh, the kid in The Omen” is a pretentious douche and watched some movie on their daddy’s knee and cried and hid at the scary parts.
The movie doesn’t matter, except to people like your aunt and uncle Bluster, who will spend the first year of the kid’s life making annoying comments. You look at them evenly, say “it’s a fantastic name” and move on. They’ll be bored of it before his first birthday and you don’t see them that much anyway.
Honestly, you will not hear about this again until your 9 year old googles himself, gets excited, and demands to see the movie. For what it’s worth, I prefer Damian – it seems more complete to me somehow, and if it makes you feel better, it’s not the spelling used by the movie, which is only for old people anyway.
God, why didn’t we get this exercised about the name Henry after The Good Son?
Excellent choice in name, one he’ll wear and enjoy and be pleased with and probably redefine for a lot of people, actually. I’m so glad you love it as much as I do!
