Tom Cruise, Linguist
Just when you were getting used to Tom Cruise as an authority on all things psychiatric and a strange gourmet foods afficionado...it turns out he's a linguist, too!
Tom Cruise and Katie Holmes' choice of a Hebrew-flavored name for their newborn daughter has speakers of the language scratching their heads.Baby Suri's name can be traced to a Hebrew word meaning "princess" or "noblewoman," but by such a circuitous route that the connection is lost on most Israelis. Since the birth Tuesday in Los Angeles, bemused Israeli TV and radio presenters have debated the word's origins.
"Nobody here has ever really heard of it," an announcer on Israel's Army Radio said during a discussion Thursday. The Yediot Ahronot newspaper agreed in its half-page splash on the celebrity birth.
"We seem to have learned a new Hebrew word -- and from Tom Cruise, no less," said a Channel 2 TV anchorman. Cruise's publicist said Tuesday the name has its origins in Hebrew meaning "princess" or in Persian meaning "red rose."
Hey, who knows what that name means in "outer-space-cephalopodian"?
Radwaste at April 21, 2006 6:47 AM
I heard on one of the cable t.v. shows that follows such stuff that Suri may be a homonym for the birthplace of L. Ron Hubbard, Surrey in England.
I just wanted to add some fuel to the fire.
Regards.
emkeane at April 21, 2006 6:54 AM
If those Israelis would just get Clear, they'd understand perfectly.
Alan at April 21, 2006 7:57 AM
"Suri" sounds like an Indian name. Like a sari.
I'm going to name my first daughter "Listerine."
Lenazoid at April 21, 2006 3:14 PM
My mother knew a guy who named his twin daughters Kate and DupliKate.
She swears this is true.
For some reason, it feels perfectly cool for Penn Jilette to name his daughter Moxie Crimefighter... You know she's going to grow up to be a sweetheart no matter what. But Tom Cruise, he needs to name his kids Jane and David.
By the way, this birth caps a towering new pinnacle for disgusting behavior by popular figures. The film opens next week, and it may not make its money back... So what will Cruise do for an encore.
Crid at April 21, 2006 5:49 PM
Suri means "pickpocket" in Japanese.
Possibly an experiment in the influence
of naming on career choice.
Nice move Cruise.
A.H.North at April 22, 2006 8:04 AM
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