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I think Tesla is fine in an American context. Most of the girls named Tesla were inspired more by the band than by the inventor, however. And I don't think it's a problem being thought a "physics geek" because a) why is that a bad thing? and b) the great majority of Americans will not remember enough of their high school physics to get the reference.

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I don't care for Teratia and Tertia as much as Tesla, but there's nothing that bad about them. Of course, a few people will assume that a Tertia must be your third child, but not any more than will get the physics reference to Tesla. :)

Please, no! As if Mackenzie isn't bad enough, now they are going after 'our' last names. Tesla is a last name!!! And please, please, please, don't use our last names as first names for baby girls (or boys), it sounds horrible.

Sorry but it's nmsaa. Tesla might have been a cool guy, but isn't "tesla" also a kind of measure unit of something electric? It's not much better than naming a child Ampere, Watt or Joule, IMO.

When I was in grade 8, I was a lunch room monitor in the JK/Sk room, and there was a little girl named Tessla. It was the first I had heard the name, but I quite like it =)

I'd use it, although I think it's one of those things a future SO would likely veto. I am a bit of a science geek though, and one of my guilty pleasures is Faraday. In fact, I have a guilty pleasure twin set with Faraday and Tesla as second middle names. Which leads (obviously) to Maxwell for a boy. I think I once came up with about ten combo's before I got upset because I couldn't justify naming a kid Bohr, no matter how much I'd want people to think of Niels and not bore.

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So yes, I like Tesla, I would associate it with the physicist, and that's a good thing.

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Teratia's ok, but I prefer Teresa (either pron.) for the sound. Tertia's cool, although it would bring up the thought of "Are her sisters called Prima and Secunda?" But I like the sound, and I could get over the ordinal thing with familiarity.

It is phonetically appealing. But I think if you named a kid Tesla, everyone would think you were a physics nut and they'd comment on it a lot. So if you are a physics nut, I suppose it wouldn't be an issue.

it's also a band (youtube link included)

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They had a song back in 1989 called simply "Love Song." Actually a very good song, but pretty much their one claim to mainstream fame. They are your quintessential "hair metal" band.

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For that reason, rather than the inventor, I don't really see Tesla asa usable fn, though I know it has been done occasionally. One advantage I can see (the only one, really) is that it lacks the baby-talk sound I get from Tessa.

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I don't see Tertia and Terasia as names either. Maybe I absorbed too much medical terminology when I was a transcriptionist, but I know that tterato is a prefix referring to birth defects, as in teratogenic, meaning causing birth defects. And Tertia, aside from just sounding ugly to me, remind sme of tertiary, as in tertiary or third-stage syphilis. Yuck.

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I'm going to look up a link for "Love Song" and will come back here and post it for you.

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www.youtube.com/watch?v=yt-ybUuZjLE

This message was edited 12/12/2007, 3:40 PM