Criminal Minds: The Naming of Cats (Hotch)

[truepenny]

Gideon
Reid
JJ
Garcia
Elle
Morgan
Prentiss


AARON HOTCHNER

Withycombe says about Aaron:

the name of the brother of Moses, first High Priest of Israel. It may be Egyptian, but the meaning is unknown. There was a Celtic saint named Aaron, but that was probably a different name. Aaron has been used occasionally as a christian name since the Reformation. Bardsley says he did not meet with a single English Aaron in medieval times, though it sometimes occurs as the name of a Jew; but there is mention of one apparently English Aaron in the Curia Regis Rolls for 1199.

Rule:

Hebrew: Aharon. "Lofty or exalted." Aaron, brother of Moses, qualified and enlightened, was exalted as the first high priest of the Hebrews. Aaron Burr, 3rd Vice-President of the United States.

Spence:

[Hebrew] 'Exalted'. The brother of Moses.

Wikipedia thinks Aaron means "bearer of martyrs," and while Wikipedia's hardly the most reliable source, it's at least as reliable as Rule or Spence.

There are certainly parallels between the Biblical Aaron and Hotch's role in the BAU; Hotch is definitely Gideon's social interface, the priest to Gideon's prophet. But what I find most interesting about Hotch's given name is that he's never called by it.

I have less leverage with surnames than I do given names, so I throw myself upon the mercy of Google. About: Genealogy does not include Hotchner. Nor does Last Name Meanings. Nor does Surname Guide. Nor does . . . you get the idea.

As it happens, A. E. Hotchner's first name is Aaron, and there is at least circumstantial evidence that he uses or has used the nickname Hotch. He also started out as a lawyer. He wrote about Hemingway, was Paul Newman's partner in a number of ventures (donating proceeds to charity), wrote for TV . . . I imagine we could play six degrees of separation and find some connection to Criminal Minds, but in the absence of more information, like Hotch himself, the name remains somewhat enigmatic.

Comments

[barriequark.livejournal.com]

Truly geekarific! I cannot believe just how fascinated I was by the whole post. Though Reed is still my favorite, and yes, he is "slender as a..." LOL

[szeretni.livejournal.com]

I especially find it interesting that you can't find Hotchner! Now I must have a look and see if I can find it... :)
Looking forward to more about the others! :D

[papersky.livejournal.com]

I usually work on the principle that if three of my books agree on what the name means, I'll go with that, unless one of them is Rule, because there are so many cases where she's just wrong. But nobody else has as many great loopy names.

[matociquala.livejournal.com]

It occurs to me that the Green Knight is de Hautdesert. Which is really, really stretching for a homophone.

"Jareau" seems to be not really particularly useful either. Nor "Garcia."

[nebula99.livejournal.com]

Yep, when I looked at this, I found nothing for Jareau, Garcia or Hotchner. But I was intrigued by A.E Hotchner - that seems like too much of a coincidence that they both have the same name.

[swhowe.livejournal.com]

I'm really enjoying these discussions! Thank you!

I wonder if Hotch could be at all tied to hitch, hatch, or hutch? So many possibilities there.

[truepenny.livejournal.com]

There's this great thing in Stephen King's discussion of Rosemary's Baby (in Danse Macabre), where he points out that Hutch (the nickname of Rosemary's friend) is something you keep rabbits safe in. (Of course, Rosemary's Baby being the book it is, poor Hutch doesn't last very long.)

I admit that's been in the back of my mind.