Subtitled: Eat your heart out, Tomkat.
“What’s a Stellian?” people often ask me. (This is the natural progression from, “Wait, you’re like a WARNER Warner?”)
It’s a good question, seeing as it’s a made up word. It’s not even a real name. I looked up “Stellian” on WhitePages.com one time when I decided I would like to marry someone who could provide a humorous surname hyphenation — he doesn’t exist. (Update: upon redoing this search, I discovered a 68-year-old man by the name of Stellian in Kansas. Wonder if he’s on Facebook…)
And it’s not a fast horse, nor a foreign word — that I know of. Stellian is what’s called a portmanteau.
You might be familiar with portmanteaus from some Stellian imitators, whom I’ll show below:
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- Brangelina
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- Bennifer
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- Tomkat
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- Speidi
Back in the early ’50s, Steve and Lillian Farkas combined their first names to create Stellian Appliance on Snelling and Larpenteur, where my grandpa Jim Warner would begin working a few years later. Jim Warner bought Stellian in 1971, after years of faithful service, and added his family’s name to the already-established local store (Back then it would’ve been, “What’s a Warner?”).
We still own that location and since have added six more in the time that media covering celebrity supercouples have caught wind of Steve and Lillian’s genius.
Warners’ Stellian: spurring imitation for more than 50 years.
April 19, 2010 at 3:28 pm
I love this post.
That is all.
April 20, 2010 at 8:23 am
I love this post too! My favorite part is that last line: Warners’ Stellian: spurring imitation for more than 50 years. Take that Brangelina!
April 20, 2010 at 12:44 pm
Fun post
No matter how hard I try, I can’t come up with a cool way to combine my name with my hubby’s name….
Congrats on the success if Warners’ Stellian. It’s great to see family-owned and operated business do well
Thanks for participating in our giveaway — good luck!!
Kelly
April 20, 2010 at 12:45 pm
Thanks, Kelly. But that begs the question — what’s your husband’s name?
April 20, 2010 at 2:41 pm
This is probably one of my favorite Twin Cities Fun Facts. Our very own Warners’ Stellian started the trend. You heard it here first, folks.
April 20, 2010 at 3:03 pm
Katie, M, Heidi: Thanks for the compliments.
I do think that the “Stellian” question is one of those with a surprising answer.
April 22, 2010 at 3:15 pm
I got the question today and I was already on the website with a builder of mine (via phone) and I laughed and we came to this blog. I told him I could just tell him, but this is so much better! I also love the “Are you a Warner Warner” question. Cracks me up!
April 23, 2010 at 7:19 am
It puts a new spin on the same story we tell everyday, eh?