Hey, did anyone notice how meaningful some of the Vanderbooms' names are? I looked up their meanings and made some interesting discoveries.
Here are a few examples of meaningful names:
- James: Means "supplanter" or "replacement". He takes over the family house after William's death and Aldous's transformation, and eventually follows in their footsteps as an alchemist.
- Leonard: Means "like a lion" or "lion-bold". He goes off to fight in WWI, and returns alive, albeit missing a leg from the knee-down and traumatized.
- Rose: Means "rose". However, there is the French name Roselin (which, strangely, is male), which means "red-haired". She has inherited her mother's hair.
Other names, however, are downright ironic:
- Emma: Means "whole" or "complete". She spends the last five years of her life distressed over the disappearance of her son, before taking her own life at age 29.
- Albert: Means "bright" or "noble". He is decidedly not so, and is, in fact, the darkest member of the family, killing a sizable portion of his own relatives.
- Frank: Means "free". He spends 33 years, which is most of his life, trapped in a well.
Certain names kind of make sense:
- Aldous: Means "from the old house". This kind of makes sense, since the Vanderboom family house is pretty old.
- William: Means "protector". His spirit (or, more accurately, his Corrupted Soul) watches over his extended family for the duration of Roots. However, he doesn't exactly keep them safe or anything.
Some of the names were a bit confusing:
- Ida: Means "active" or "hardworking".
- Samuel: Means "name of God" or "asked of God".
- Mary: Means "bitter".
Can someone help with those?