beLIEve -- Nomen est omen // Gillian & David

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Gillian Leigh Anderson

Anderson

Anderson is a very typical surname in Scandinavia, written originally Andersson and meaning simply son of Anders.

Gillian

(f) Latin youth. English feminine form of Julian or possibly Teutonic word girl. Julian, (m) from the Roman name Julianus, which derives from Julius.

Leigh

(f) Form of Lee. Lee (m, f) either from an Old English surmane meadow or short form of Leo, Leon or Leslie.

David William Duchovny

Duchovny

Derived from the Russian word meaning spiritual. David's father abandoned the 'h' from his name because people used to mispronounce Duchovny, making it rhyme with 'anchovy'.

David

(m) From Hebrew, friend or beloved. David was the greatest of the kings of Israel. The stories about him told in Old Testament include his defeat of Goliath, a giant Philistine. Though DD's father was Russian-Jewish this was not the reason why his name was choosed but the fact that Michaelangelo's David was his father's favorite sculpture.

William

(m) From the Teutonic elements "wil", wil, desire, and "helm", helmet : "will helmet". Resolute soldier . Also Determind Guardian. The name was introduced to Britain by the Normans.
David's Scottish mother Margaret provided his middle name, William, as a tribute to her own father.
Chris Carter's father's name is also William. While it is also David Duchovny's middle name it also belongs to Scully's father, Mulder's father, one of Scully's brothers and to Mulder himself.

I am fully conscious of the fact that David and Gillian both want to keep their children out of the publicity and I want to respect that decision. That's why I'm not for example posting pictures of Piper. Anyhow, I don't see that knowing the etymology of their children's names or why these names were chosen will harm them in any way. If you disagree, feel free to let me know. I'd also like to encourage you to visit a site called FACES if you are interested in helping to remove all the pictures of Piper and West from the Net.

Piper Maru Anderson

Piper

Piper is a english name meaning Pipe player. Funnily enough, ABBA has also a song titled Piper. I just can't get rid of them, can I? ;-)

Maru

Maru, calm and gentle in Polynesian. Circle in Japanese. Maru is also the ending of the name of Japanese ships and boats. The X-files crew named one episode after Piper Maru. The reason for Gillian naming her daughter seems to be the Polynesian word. Special thanks to Mere and Chiyo for this one! =)

Madelainen West Duchovny

Madelaine

Madeleine, Hebr. tower.
David in In Style magazine:
Q:Did you name her after the children's book?
DD: No. She's named after the pastry. In Proust's Remembrance of Things Past, the narrator bites into a madelaine, just a simple little pastry, and it makes him remember. It's the reason the whole book comes about.

West

West is of English derivation meaning west.
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