Have any of you seen or heard about the new PBS Kids show Xavier Riddle and the Secret Museum? It premiered this week; it’s “[b]ased on the children’s book series Ordinary People Change the World by New York Times bestselling author Brad Meltzer and illustrator Christopher Eliopoulos … [and] will introduce kids to inspiring historical figures and the character virtues that helped them succeed.” (This was a pretty interesting article about it, which focused heavily on the need for kids to have good heroes today [secular, of course, I didn’t see any Saints in the lineup! 😀 ], and this quote was interesting: “where do you draw the line between someone whose flaws are flaws in a good person, and someone whose flaws are disqualifying for a kids’s how [sic]?” I’m glad that’s something they’re wrestling with! So far they seem to have done a good job — my kids have seen a couple of episodes and like it well enough, and I haven’t seen anything objectionable in it.)
Anyway, what made me sit up and take notice is how they said Xavier’s name: ex-ZAY-vyer! (You might remember that I have strong feelings on the pronunciation of Xavier.) I tried to find more info on the selection of Xavier as the protagonist’s name, and hoped that someone might have written about the pronunciation, but didn’t find anything — if you do, please share!
My book, Catholic Baby Names for Girls and Boys: Over 250 Ways to Honor Our Lady (Marian Press, 2018), is available to order from ShopMercy.org and Amazon — perfect for expectant parents, name enthusiasts, and lovers of Our Lady!
Sancta Nomina 
Why don’t you find Brad Meltzer email address and ask him? Bet it’s on his site or his publisher’s site.
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Ooh yes! That’s a great idea!
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Xavier!!! Yay!!! Thanks for passing this along.
I might have reasons for loving that name. Like silly toddler who only runs, never walks, but might answer to that name kind of reasons.
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Aw!! ❤ ❤ ❤
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My kids love that show! I was also struck by the unusual names. Xavier’s sister is named Yadina, which I think is a variation on Adina/Adine, a n Arabic name. “Xavier” is an Arabic name originally too–maybe they are Middle Eastern? Maybe it is more traditional to pronounce the “Ex” in those cultures? Totally guessing here, I have no idea.
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Interesting! I’d assumed Yadina was Spanish — I looked it up previously and couldn’t find anything on it but this bit “According to a user from California, United States, the name Yadina is of Spanish origin and means “Beautiful and Loyal”” from https://www.names.org/n/yadina/about, and that it’s a surname that’s most prevalent in Russia (https://forebears.io/surnames/yadina). I wouldn’t have thought of the Adina connection … I thought the Spanish connection felt right because of St. Francis Xavier being Spanish, but maybe you’re right! Though I thought Xavier was originally Basque? https://www.behindthename.com/name/xavier Oh! I just googled Yadina and came up with girls with that first name and the last names Sanchez and Salinas … I’m definitely intrigued by this name now!
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I think Xavier is actually Basque, not Arabic. The two English pronunciations have different images for me. Zavier sounds trendy because it has been a fairly fashionable name. Eggs-zavier reminds me of The Avengers. And Havier is Hispanic.
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Yes, Basque! That’s what I thought too. The two English pronunciations have different feels to me too. And check out the other pronunciations! https://www.behindthename.com/name/xavier The French pronunciation is given as GZA-VYEH, which boosts my argument on the Xavier post!
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[…] pronunciation debates over Xavier! I wrote an impassioned post about it here (with a related post here). I say it like Alyssa says it, as it was my grandfather’s middle name and that’s how he said […]
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