What's In A Name?

Nick was telling me today about some of the responses to our exploration of uses for our new hall. Among several common threads, one was having a good name for the facility. He was telling me this and before he shared a suggestion, a name came to my mind. "The Lighthouse".  He then said the same two words.

What do you think?

Comments

[ryan]

Ooh, will it have an actual revolving light on top? That would be very cool, especially if you used it, Bat-Signal style, to project the (hopefully redesigned) St.Silas logo on to Kelvingrove Park! :-)

[GVBro]

You see the signpost up ahead..... You've just crossed over.... The Twilight Zone!!!!!!

[GadgetVicar]

I didn't hear the theme tune, though!

[GadgetVicar]

Also, you've just ruined the moment for me!

[ryan]

How about.......The Polo Lounge? The name refers originally to a plush Hollywood locale, so the name has obvious connotations of glitz and glamour that would surely be an aid to outreach. And polo is (as Ralph Lauren astutely noticed!) a sport of the upper classes, meaning the name would be reflective of St.Silas' general demographic and target audience! Who's with me?

[ED...]

Whatever you do, don't call it, "The new hall" like we did with ours. It's now getting run down, largely because people still think of it as the new hall. (It's older by far than most of the people who use it.)

[Jimmy]

Brightly beams our Father’s mercy from His lighthouse evermore,
But to us He gives the keeping of the lights along the shore.
Let the lower lights be burning! Send a gleam across the wave!
For to us He gives the keeping of the lights along the shore.

Dark the night of sin has settled, loud the angry billows roar;
Eager eyes are watching, longing, for the lights, along the shore.
Let the lower lights be burning! Send a gleam across the wave!
Eager eyes are watching, longing, for the lights, along the shore.

Trim your feeble lamp, my brother, some poor sailor tempest tossed,
Trying now to make the harbor, in the darkness may be lost.
Let the lower lights be burning! Send a gleam across the wave!
Trying now to make the harbor, some poor sailor may be lost.

I heard in a sermon that this hymn was written by somene who witnessed a shipwrech from the shore.

[Simon Varwell]

My church, Hilton Church of Scotland in Inverness, uses the name Lighthouse for its old manse which has been converted into a multipurpose meeting space and cafe.

Where Inverness leads, Glasgow follows... :o)

[Graham]

Don't want to be obvious, but what would be wrong with calling it 'St Silas Hall' or 'the church Hall'? After all we don't want people thinking it is a separate organisation.

I've heard there is a campaign for it to be the Ali Downes Memorial Hall, but I think that implies that he may not survive the project.

Of course 'lighthouse' would work since we haven't yet figured out a way of blacking out the large windows the hall will have, but in general I don't think it needs a name - it is all St Silas Church.

[Jimmy]

No matter what it's named it's going to be called "The Kite" anyway.

[IR]

Hmm I think the Lighthouse would be a good name for a one-off children's event but not for a long-term name for a hall that's for all the community. Anything with "Light" or "Life" in the title tends to sound a bit cheesy.

However, if it has a bat-signal type light on the top it doesn't matter what the name is, it will be very cool.

And even if it does get officially named, I reckon most of us will still call it The Hall, and if we're describing it to people outside church we'll call it St Silas Church Hall so that they know what and where it is.

[Steve]

For Matrix fans.....Zion.

[ryan]

Gah! Please God no! After The Matrix came out, there was a never-ending succession of evangelical Churches talking, in a typically cack-handed reductionist way, about its Christian parallels! The Matrix came out a decade ago and its surely time to give that particular dead horse a respite from flogging. How sad that The Matrix is one of the most popculturally referenced films from 1999 - Fight Club, Magnolia, American Beauty, Eyes Wide Shut, and The Thin Red Line all came out that year. Not to mention Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace ;-).

The Polo Lounge is surely the best suggested name (thus far). FTW!

Although why not let the person who donated the most cash name it after themselves? That would be appropriate. Although the Curb Your Enthusiasm episode about the anonymous donor comes to mind!