Thank you all so much for all the excellent suggestions for names for my spinning wheel. Ideas poured into the comments and into my inbox. I'll share a few especially interesting ones and then the winning suggestions:
Sarah, knowing that my wheel is a Kromski, felt it deserved a name linked to his country of birth. She wrote, "I really like the traditional Polish names for this one." Angeluna suggested the names of Polish saints.
Many of you shared Angeluna's sense of the mystical and metaphoric but suggested non-Polish examples.
Katherine suggested
Zihna, "which is Native American and means 'spins'." Carole offered
Samsara, the Tibetan Buddhist concept of the endless wheel of rebirth.
Bluerose suggested
Saule, saying that "In Baltic religion Saule is the sun goddess who determines the well-being of all life on earth. As the full light of the sun, she is also represented by a daisy, a wheel, or a rosette."
Uncomformed gives
Moirae, the name of the greek goddesses who spun the threads of fate.
Others of you played on the model name Symphony and suggested names based on musical terms or composers. My favorite of these was the suggestion first offered in an email from
Donna:
Chopin. Chopin was one of Poland's most famous composers. Ironically, as she pointed out, Chopin never composed a symphony. (He composed pretty much exclusively for the piano, my instrument of choice.)
FemiKnitMafia suggested
Seamus, a name I love partly because it is the first name of
one of my favorite poets and teachers. But
Kate said, "I don't know why I'm convinced she's a girl, but I am.” On that front,
Lolly's
Beatrix and Patricia's
Gertie sounded really good.
But then there were a couple of names that resonated very deeply, although the writers had no idea this would be true.
Elena offered
Alma, the name of one of Son's four grandmothers. And Spinmama suggested
Anka or
Anechka, Polish for "grace". Although she was thinking of my graceful Polish wheel, I have another connection: my name is from the same roots.
Despite all these terrific suggestions full of humor and meaning and thought, two people came up with what was clearly meant to be. One posted it in the comments just as the other sent me an email. And the winning name is:
ANNABEL LEE from
Rebecca and
Diana!
"Annabel Lee" is a poem by
Edgar Allan Poe, author of "The Purloined Letter." Written to his late wife, it contains some of my favorite love lyrics:
We loved with a love that was more than love
...
And so, all the nighttide, I lie down by the side
Of my darling! my darling, my life, my bride.
(In the name of disclosure, I should tell you that, in good Poe fashion, he is talking about a dead woman.)
Go
here for a truly creepy musical setting of the poem. And there is
this. And then there has to be the
Esperanto translation....
Thanks to all of you for playing. Congratulations to Rebecca and Diana! A wee little gift will be coming your way.