Why “Agkyra”?
ἄγκυρα \’aŋ·kü·ra\ (\ANG·koo·ra\) [classical Greek]: an anchor
You pronounce it like the English word “anchor,” but with an “a” sound at the end. The Greek word is also behind the name of the capital city of Turkey, Ankara.
Why did I choose this name for my blog? When I first decided to write a blog, I only intended to try my hand at blogging. But, in order to try it out, I had to choose a name for my blog over at Blogger. I thought about it for a minute and settled on something I thought appropriate, related to my name if I remember correctly. I clicked the link to submit that name and got a message back saying that it was taken.
Rats. I thought for a minute until I settled on another name. That was taken too.
I spent about 10 minutes trying a whole variety of names, and all of them were already taken. I began to think that I wouldn’t even be able to start a blog. I had just been memorizing some Greek vocabulary (I am a New Testament scholar, after all), and ἄγκυρα had been one from earlier that morning. I typed it in (transliterated into English, of course), just to see whether there were any names still available. It was available! If Agkyra had been taken, I would have given up.
Thankfully, it wasn’t–though I feel bad for the next sucker who tries it. Then again, I’m the guy who is stuck with it.
