archshrk

One of the most common questions we get asked as new parents is;

The simple answer is nowhere. But I guess that’s not going to fly so here’s the deal.

One of the first names I wanted to consider was Calvin. A cool sounding name but a little too popular, especially in Reformed circles (see John Calvin). So that spurred Julia to look for alternate names that were of the same name category. Among those names was Corbin. Obviously it stuck well enough to beat out Benjamin - but not without a fight.

It wasn’t so much a fight but we wanted to wait until we met our son before making our final decision. Either way, Alexander was chosen as the middle name. It worked well with both first names and was a great transition into our last name. Neither Corbin nor Alexander are family names but Benjamin is Julia’s grandfather’s name (technically it’s Benny - who knew). We’ll save that for a future child.

So why didn’t we consider other great names? Well, we did. But all the great names we considered and liked had strong ‘S’ sounds like Sean and Joshua and Sylvester J. Pussycat, Sr. And with a last name starting with a strong ‘S’ sound I didn’t want the alliteration problems my sister faced.

The boy’s name Corbin \c(o)-rbin, cor-bin\ is pronounced KOR-bin. Possibly a short form of the rare given name Corbinian, or a transfered use of the surname, in origin a nickname meaning “crow” in Anglo-Norman. It is also the name of a place in Glencreran, Scotland, signifying a steep hill, from the Gaelic Cor-beann or Cor-beinn. Other meanings include the Latin - Raven-haired, raven, or dark as a raven

Corbin has 12 variant forms: Corben, Corbet, Corbett, Corbie, Corbit, Corbitt, Corby, Corbyn, Corvin, Cory, Korbin and Korbyn.

Famous Corbins:
Actor Corbin Bernsen - L.A. Law
Actor Corbin Bleu - High School Musical
Fictional Character Korben Dallas - Fifth Element
(different spelling but still cool)
In ‘Le Morte Darthur’ by Thomas Malory, the Holy Grail is found in the Castle of Corbin or Corbenic.

CORBIN is not to be confused with Corban from Mark 7:1-13 where Jesus condemns the Pharisees for encouraging the people to make special gifts to the Temple while neglecting their responsibility to take care of their parents.