The Name Deal

A few months ago, not long after the publication of my last book The Antonides Marriage Deal, I had an email about how I'd chosen the name Antonides.

I wrote back and explained to the writer that I had been casting about for a nice Greek name, preferably one that started with an A, and since I'd used Alexakis before, and since Aristides seemed a bit too close to a certain Haitian dictator for my comfort, I decided I liked the sound of Antonides.

And she wrote back and said, terrific, but was I aware that most of the Antonideses in America were Dutch.

Well, I wasn't. But now I am -- and from what I've heard from her and from a few subsequent emails regarding the connections of my husband's Dutch New Yorkers and her Antonides Dutch New Yorkers, we might actually be connected -- and apparently there was a bit of a buzz about the book at the Dutch Antonides family reunion this past summer. Bless their hearts. I hope they all keep an eye out for the next book, The Santorini Bride, which probably should have been called The Antonides Bride, but how would marketing have known that would have been a blockbuster title? Besides, the hero's last name is Savas. But that's another story.

The story now is that this past week I got another email. This one said, "How did you come up with the name Mark Batakis?"

Mark Batakis, for those who are not keeping score, was the name of Elias Antonides's sister Cristina's boyfriend. Spoiler: she married him. I'm not going to write a story about them. So there.

But I did reply and said basically, um, well I wanted a nice Greek name that was easy to pronounce and Kate Walker lent me her list of Greek names. I liked Batakis. Thus Mark had a last name. And then I told the writer about my Antonides experience and said, "The Batakises aren't Dutch, are they?"

And she wrote back and said, no, but a lot of them are Lithuanian.

So I give up. The next Greek I write is going have the last name Trevaskis, which is about as Cornish a name as I can think of. Just don't tell marketing.

Anyway, she told me that Batakises (Lithuanian and Greek) are rather thin on the ground and she would like to track down more of the Lithuanian ones. As a genealogist myself, I totally sympathize with her quest. So I am hereby requesting all Lithuanian Batakises to drop me a note or raise your hand or wave a flag or do something to let us know where you are. There is a Lithuanian Batakis who would like to get in touch with you.

Anyone else want me to advertise their surname for potential family reunions? Send me a note. Maybe I can name a hero after you and kill two birds with one stone.