Meanings given for Luka, a form of Luke, are bringer of light (Latin) and light.
Meanings given for Axel are divine reward; divine source of life (Hebrew, Swedish) and Father of Peace (Old German).
These names are both uncommon in the US. On our trip to France this past November, we discovered, to our surprise, that Axel was a very popular name there! The stats say that "Lucas" (pronounced like "Luka" in French - the "s" is silent) was more popular: first or second in popularity the last few years. But, during our trip, we met two shop clerks who got all excited and said their boys' were named Axel too. I heard someone calling his son in Auchan (store), Axel. Also, some friends of Reynald's various cousins' kids were named Axel too. We heard about A LOT of Axels!
On the other hand, I have yet to meet a Luka in France, though we have heard of one or two friends of friends, or of Reynald's parents, whose sons are named "Lucas", which to the French seems the same as our son (people often misspell his name that way), but, is, in fact, different.
Even though we wanted them to have unique names, I am not really disappointed with this outcome in France. Because they live in the US, they could seem a little "foreign" in France when they are older--just because they live abroad--even if their French is good. So, on the issue of their names, after all this, I am just as happy that their names will seem "normal" there and they will fit in and not seem "foreign" in their second home country, France.
How we chose their names
One reason we liked them is because they were not ordinary but were also not excessively odd. Also, because they work both in English and French. I still remember the moment Reynald came up with the name "Luka"--it was an evening when he (Luka, not Reynald - ha, ha) was probably 3 days old already. The hospital had been calling us to get his name for their records, but we wanted to make sure we were not pressured and picked the perfect name for our gorgeous new born son.
I had been thinking of Luke or Lucas (these are both quite in vogue in the US, I have since come to realize), but we both agreed that that was not exactly right for us. Something was missing. We had even written Luke on his birth certificate application at the hospital, but then scratched it out! In any case, when Reynald came up with "Luka" I had a really excited feeling and knew that was the perfect name. We looked it up on the Internet and found that with that spelling, it was Slavic. Luca is more common and a very common name in Italy. Various forms are quite popular world wide, but in the US, it is not common at all. ("My name is Luka, I live on the second floor"...yeah, yeah....if you are my generation you know that song, but Luka's generation will be like, "What song? It is 40 years old....", so no big deal there.)
A common reaction (from older people) is surprise (and you can tell they don't really like it); from younger people they are often really excited and say it is a really cool name. Of course, we agree with the latter!
Axel did not remain unnamed for so long and had his name in his first 24 hours of life (quick for us!). We first thought of that name from a list of names we received from a French website suggesting names. Reynald noted it several months before he was born, but we were looking at several other names as well. I liked Axel more and more as time went by and we just wanted to confirm it was the name for him by actually seeing him after his birth. I know a lot of people name their kids before they are born, but we were uncomfortable doing that. We wanted to see the little man before bestowing his life-long moniker, to make sure it fit. And, it did! It is hard for some people though to not know the name in advance (really hard for my sister Laura - tee hee!).
My two men. What great names!
