1011: "Baby Names by Frank Zappa"

[Ronsonic]

Oh, and another thing ....

I do believe that girls should have to pick their own stripper/porn names when they grow up and not be given them at birth.

[tsarna]

English has some weird traditions about shortening some common names:
Richard -> Dick
Robert -> Bob
William -> Bill

There are more obvious shortenings (William -> Will, Robert->Rob)

I have often thought that, if Will is short for William and Rob is short for Robert, that the full forms of Bill and Bob should be Billiam and Bobert.

[PolakoVoador]

English has some weird traditions about shortening some common names:
Richard -> Dick
Robert -> Bob
William -> Bill

There are more obvious shortenings (William -> Will, Robert->Rob)

I have often thought that, if Will is short for William and Rob is short for Robert, that the full forms of Bill and Bob should be Billiam and Bobert.

This.

[dmm]

No, YOU are the one missing MY point. I never said what you are accusing me of saying. All the AAAHHHH THUMPY WOOBLE HARRRRRPINK!! in the world can't turn a name like Female or Shithead into an acceptable name. When a parent makes up a name off the top of his/her head, or uses a word he/she didn't understand just because it sounds nice, and it turns out to be a disaster name, then that's funny. And if the name-giver refuses to change the name once the flaw is pointed out, THAT is evidence of gross stupidity, and THAT is the problem.

You still didn't get it. No child has ever been named Shithead, Shi-thead or Shi'thead. White people made this up. "Look, black parents are so stupid!" Please read the explanation in this 2007 Snopes article (not the same one as the Le-a one) http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/names.asp

I read it, before I posted last time. It says nothing about the name Shithead, and does not even attempt to disprove any of my statements. Perhaps YOU might want to use a search engine before making blanket statements. For example: http://community.babycenter.com/post/a2 ... not_joking Also, you might want to study logic, instead of AAAHHHH THUMPY WOOBLE HARRRRRPINK!!.

I also have doubts about girls being named Female. It's not a terrible name and not as unlikely as Shi['|-]thead, but I have never seen proof beyond "I knew someone with this name", which could very well mean "a friend told me s/he knew a woman with this name", which in turn could mean "a friend who read this in a chain mail claimed s/he knew a woman with this name".

So, my wife's a liar, huh? Nice. You refuse to believe anything that contradicts your personal "reality."

but you might want to read the book Freakonomics anyway.

I have read Freakonomics. You have read Freakonomics. You may want to reread it or reassess the conclusions you drew from it. Freakonomics says: Black parents are likely to give their daughters unique names. Black parents are also likely to give their daughters word names like "Chastity". I have to reread the book to see what exactly it said about poor parents. As far as I remember Freakonomics did not compare the rate of unusual child names for black rich parents, black poor parents, white rich parents and white poor parents.
Adults with black-sounding names have disadvantages later in life. Studies showed that the same job application and resume with a black-sounding name is rated worse by white potential employers than the exact same application and resume with a white-sounding name. So what conclusion should be drawn from this? Should black people go to job interviews with a bag over their head and gloves?

From the Wikipedia article on Steven Levitt (co-author of Freakonomics):
"Causes and consequences of distinctively black names (2004): Fryer and Levitt find that the rise in distinctively black names took place in the early 1970s. While previous studies found having a black name harmful, they conclude that having a distinctively black name is primarily a consequence rather than a cause of poverty and segregation."
My commentary:
So we see that
1) distinctively black (i.e., made-up) names is a fairly recent phenomenon, not something deeply rooted in African-American culture (as you falsely claimed); and
2) your recollection of Freakonomics is flawed; it does in fact discuss rich vs. poor.

Summary: You just keep spewing high-sounding ...Hold on, I think I swallowed a gerbil. Okay. What was I saying? drivel, with no basis in facts or logic. When confronted with facts and logic, you find some way of ignoring them.

[dmm]

Beyond the Idiocracy-like product names there are options like Cosmolene and Linolea.

Some years ago there was a study that, according to the headlines, showed widespread racism in hiring. The study used a bunch of recent college graduate resumes off the internet and randomly matched them to racially identifiable names from hospital records from the appropriate time. And yes, overall, the "black" names got fewer calls from employers. What was interesting was reading the actual results that showed black employers just as discriminating / discriminatory as white. Then when you get to the raw numbers - Ebony did as well as Heather, it was Quan'esha who couldn't get date and was dragging down the average for the side. Same for the guys, nobody was calling D'Andre while Tyrone was hanging with Tyler and Jeremy.

Now maybe it's still unfair, employers can't know that Quintalisha is ghetto, but they can be pretty sure her mom was.

Thank you for posting this. It speaks to the point I've been making. The study does NOT show that employers are discriminating against blacks. They are discriminating against people from the ghetto. The study proves classism, not racism. It is possible that if employers could tell from a name that a person was from a white ghetto, they would discriminate against that person also. (It is also possible that the employers truly are racist. Maybe the black job seekers with "non-black" names would be given an interview, and then discriminated against there. But the study doesn't speak to that. However, if Ronsonic is remembering accurately, "Ebony" did just fine, and that's an obviously "black" name. So that argues weakly against racism.)
If you are black, and looking to give your kid a good name, but you want it to be "black", my advice (based on actual studies, not politcal correctness) is to consider easily-spelled, easily-pronounced names with positive associations like Ebony, Coffee, or Cocoa. Or, use the name of a great (black) American: Martin, Luther, Frederick, Douglass, George, Carver, Benjamin, Sojourner, Harriet, etc. That gives your kid a chance to brag on his heritage every time he introduces himself. "My name's Douglass, with two s's, like Frederick Douglass the great African-American orator, statesman, and abolitionist."
If you are an immigrant, ask people born in your new country if your name is a disaster in your new country's primary language(s). If it is, take a new name. Same for your kids. Your kid does not want to be the new Cambodian kid in class, with the name Fuc or Pisey. It's just like when Chevy couldn't sell any Nova cars in Spain. Assimilate. (And yes, I would certainly do the same if I moved to Cambodia, China, etc. and found that my name was a disaster in that country's language.)

[bmonk]

One of the worst I've seen in real life is a guy I know who named his son Seven. That's going to get confusing in a few years.

The Romans did that sort of thing: Secundus, Tertius, Quintus, Sextus all were good Latin names. In face, there have been five Popes named Sixtus. I guess nobody wanted to be Sixtus Sixtus.

John is a shortening of Jonathan.

Are you really sure? I was under the impression that John was the English version of Johannes, as in the apostle. I never had the impression Johannes and Jonathan were the same name.

Jack is the dimunitive of the archaic Jakin.

Is it not short for James, which seems to be the English version of Jacobus (again an apostle), also Jacob, Jaap or Jacques in some languages?

If not, then how did the English names of the biblical apostles get so messed up?

Not just English. IIRC, James has four cognates in Spanish: Iago (from Jacob), Santiago (really from Saint James), and both Jaime (pron. Haime) and Diego.

[JudeMorrigan]

No, YOU are the one missing MY point. I never said what you are accusing me of saying. All the AAAHHHH THUMPY WOOBLE HARRRRRPINK!! in the world can't turn a name like Female or Shithead into an acceptable name. When a parent makes up a name off the top of his/her head, or uses a word he/she didn't understand just because it sounds nice, and it turns out to be a disaster name, then that's funny. And if the name-giver refuses to change the name once the flaw is pointed out, THAT is evidence of gross stupidity, and THAT is the problem.

You still didn't get it. No child has ever been named Shithead, Shi-thead or Shi'thead. White people made this up. "Look, black parents are so stupid!" Please read the explanation in this 2007 Snopes article (not the same one as the Le-a one) http://www.snopes.com/racial/language/names.asp

I read it, before I posted last time. It says nothing about the name Shithead, and does not even attempt to disprove any of my statements. Perhaps YOU might want to use a search engine before making blanket statements. For example: http://community.babycenter.com/post/a2 ... not_joking Also, you might want to study logic, instead of AAAHHHH THUMPY WOOBLE HARRRRRPINK!!.

For the record, anecdotal evidence of urban legends by random schmoes on an internet message board is considerably less than compelling. Reading that link, I don't see a durned reason to believe that it's not just that: an urban legend.

[Monika]

Betsy is short for Elizabeth, not Margaret. Did you mean Peg/Peggy/Meg? Those are short for Margaret.

I knew a woman named Margaret, and she went by Betsy. I assumed that was correct. The web says you are right. If I meet her again, should I tell her?

I had a classmate whose name was Katharina and she went by Steffie, or something similarly unrelated. Some people just pick their own names.

[In a different school] I was called Money, my classmate Sandra was called Sunny, Franziska and Franziska were called Franzi and Ska, Jenny Jen, and Ines "Schlepp" (schleppen = carry heavy things).

Beyond the Idiocracy-like product names there are options like Cosmolene and Linolea.

Some years ago there was a study that, according to the headlines, showed widespread racism in hiring. The study used a bunch of recent college graduate resumes off the internet and randomly matched them to racially identifiable names from hospital records from the appropriate time. And yes, overall, the "black" names got fewer calls from employers.

I have seen such studies.

What was interesting was reading the actual results that showed black employers just as discriminating / discriminatory as white. Then when you get to the raw numbers - Ebony did as well as Heather, it was Quan'esha who couldn't get date and was dragging down the average for the side. Same for the guys, nobody was calling D'Andre while Tyrone was hanging with Tyler and Jeremy.

I have not seen such studies. Please provide links.

I read it, before I posted last time. It says nothing about the name Shithead,

Actually this name is mentioned in the article, too. But the important thing is to understand the racist concept behind these stories.

and does not even attempt to disprove any of my statements. Perhaps YOU might want to use a search engine before making blanket statements. For example: http://community.babycenter.com/post/a2 ... not_joking

I did. I found a lot of forum postings like this one, votings for most stupid baby names where it ran top, no proof at all. But at least that it is a foreign (Indian) name could mean it's possible. And totally unrelated to "poor/black people name their kids stupid names".

Also, you might want to study logic, instead of AAAHHHH THUMPY WOOBLE HARRRRRPINK!!.

I don't see any logical problems in what I wrote. It's entirely logical and factual that white people discriminate against black people and that white people as the dominant group see their way of naming children as the only right way.

I also have doubts about girls being named Female. It's not a terrible name and not as unlikely as Shi['|-]thead, but I have never seen proof beyond "I knew someone with this name", which could very well mean "a friend told me s/he knew a woman with this name", which in turn could mean "a friend who read this in a chain mail claimed s/he knew a woman with this name".

So, my wife's a liar, huh?

Yes, it's quite possible that your wife did not quite tell the truth, just like the hundreds of other mostly honest people who told their friends or relatives that they have met a person with $strange_name but in reality got told by a friend or colleage that s/he met someone with that name and then made it their own story. But it's also possible that some real Females exist. It's not /that/ bad a name, some parents might like it - it's certainly not more stupid than "Moon Unit". But the stories that the mothers saw "Female" on the birth certificates and said "oh they already picked a pretty name" are lies, racist and classist.

Nice. You refuse to believe anything that contradicts your personal "reality."

You interpret information to fit your racism-denying world view.

"Fryer and Levitt find that the rise in distinctively black names took place in the early 1970s. While previous studies found having a black name harmful, they conclude that having a distinctively black name is primarily a consequence rather than a cause of poverty and segregation."
My commentary:
So we see that
1) distinctively black (i.e., made-up) names is a fairly recent phenomenon, not something deeply rooted in African-American culture (as you falsely claimed); and

I didn't use the words deeply rooted. I said it is part of their (sub)culture now. And apparently it has been for about 40 years.

[bavariati]

I'm embarrassed to admit I know this much about those crap books, but Corbo's right: Renesmee is the result of a violent impact between "Esme" and "Renee".

It can happen to anyone, even one of my favorite sci-fi writers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kage_Baker

Her unusual first name (pronounced like the word "cage") is a combination of the names of her two grandmothers, Kate and Genevieve.

(Empress of Mars is a good intro to her style. Fun like Heinlein, but without the machismo.)

[jpers36]

It's entirely logical and factual that white people discriminate against black people and that white people as the dominant group see their way of naming children as the only right way.

This type of blanket statement can set race relations back almost as much as the stories you're attacking. It allows an individual of one "people" to look at the other "people" as a monolithic force rather than a set of individuals with their own beliefs and actions. It also invites that individual to fall into an expected role as either guilty oppressor or powerless victim rather than taking responsibility for one's own actions.

[drummond93]

Verifiable references for names, in the United States... hopefully this can settle some of the above arguments regarding the frequency of various names, at least in the United States.

The United States Social Security office has compiled a list of names as registered on the official social security card, which includes data for people born as early as 1880; the first couple of decades are not a comprehensive as not everyone born in the 1880's obtained a Social Security number.

The more well know website shows them for the 1000 most common names; but an entire list (for names recorded at least 5 times per year) is available in .zip format at:

http://www.ssa.gov/oact/babynames/limits.html


Some firsthand observations, from both the verifiable Social Security records and first hand experience as a police officer in a large, eastern United States city: The name "Female" does indeed exist in the adult, African-American population; as well as in recorded birth certificates for babies born when the mother either 1)didn't name the baby- perhaps giving it up for adoption; or 2)abandoned babies dropped off at orphanages, hospitals, etc back when that was a more common option.

Immigrant names as recorded in English by immigration officers (Ellis Island, etc) were often written phonetically/ or as best one could manage to read approximately similar- and that was when the immigrant actually gave their actual name, as opposed to trying to Americanify it on the spot (lots of immigrants have the first name "John"...

[kynadre]

Can we add "Derpina" to the list of girl's names?

[San Fran Sam]

I once told my mother that I'd like a son named Formica and a daughter named Travesty. She hit me. She didn't hit my father for trying to name me Treasure and my brother Scavenger even though our last name is Hunt.

Also, a prediction I made a few years ago in a conversation with my brother: With as bad as some people are about saying "lol" or "Gee Willikers" and the like in actual conversation, I wouldn't be surprised if we start seeing names with numbers like Steven2012 or Kelly42 soon.

With the last name Hunt, never ever name a son Michael. shortened to Mike.

[Gregarious Raconteur]

My parents worked in schools while I was growing up, and they mentioned some rather unusual names, chiefly "Woodmike innocent" and "Princeley Gay"(sic)

When I was in elementary school, there were twins in my class named LaQuisha and LaQuasha, nicknamed "Quee" and "Quay"

There were also sisters who attended my school named Chane and Chanè, apparently they were pronounced differently, but I could never actually hear the difference.

Granted, my name's "Micaiah" (pronounced Mike-eye-uh) so I guess I can't really say much...

[pigslookfunny]

It can happen to anyone, even one of my favorite sci-fi writers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kage_Baker

Her unusual first name (pronounced like the word "cage") is a combination of the names of her two grandmothers, Kate and Genevieve.

Although to be fair, Kage is a pretty awesome name. Certainly much better than "renesmee."

[Ronsonic]

Beyond the Idiocracy-like product names there are options like Cosmolene and Linolea.

Some years ago there was a study that, according to the headlines, showed widespread racism in hiring. The study used a bunch of recent college graduate resumes off the internet and randomly matched them to racially identifiable names from hospital records from the appropriate time. And yes, overall, the "black" names got fewer calls from employers.

I have seen such studies.

What was interesting was reading the actual results that showed black employers just as discriminating / discriminatory as white. Then when you get to the raw numbers - Ebony did as well as Heather, it was Quan'esha who couldn't get date and was dragging down the average for the side. Same for the guys, nobody was calling D'Andre while Tyrone was hanging with Tyler and Jeremy.

I have not seen such studies. Please provide links.

Same study, you just have to dig to the raw data. Being this was years ago, there's no way I recall a link, IIRC this one came from Cornell.

[CatOfGrey]

Random Thoughts -

My high school economics teacher defined the concept of Utility, then said "You all should name your firstborn daughter Utility, it's so important." He was a bit of a nut job, but then again, so was I, so I remember it, damn near 25 years later.

Years later, when I was teaching school, I had female students named "Prudence", and "Chocolate" in the same class. Prudence was, without a doubt, the most prudent in the class, bright, studious, and uncomfortably quiet. Chocolate (a white girl, by the way) was sweet, but highly caffeinated.

People have asked me about name suggestions, and I always reply: "Can't go wrong with saints and royals". However, I think the members of this forum could bend that up pretty well.

[\chum]

[VectorZero]

King Cnut? I'm sure primary school kids couldn't come up with a bad nickname for that...

[CatOfGrey]

I'm embarrassed to admit I know this much about those crap books, but Corbo's right: Renesmee is the result of a violent impact between "Esme" and "Renee".

It can happen to anyone, even one of my favorite sci-fi writers: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kage_Baker

Her unusual first name (pronounced like the word "cage") is a combination of the names of her two grandmothers, Kate and Genevieve.

(Empress of Mars is a good intro to her style. Fun like Heinlein, but without the machismo.)

You don't have to combine the names into two - that's why we have middle names!

My wife and I actually combined our last names when we married, but it worked out really well poetically.

As a side effect, my 'new last name' also resulted in a close to unique last name which Googles easily. Does this suggest a serious criteria for baby name creation? If so, my apologies to the HS grad class of 2030.

[TrentM]

In the early 90s I read J.D. Salinger's story "For Esmé with Love and Squalor". I decided that I would name my future daughter Esmé.

In 2008 we had our first baby. We named him Ren. It's Japanese and means Lotus. His mother's family has a connection to that name.

My daughter was born November 20th last year. We almost named her Esmé. But then, by fluke, I double checked google for the name. Twilight Breaking Dawn had come out just three days earlier. Ya, we decided against that name.

I can just imagine how it would sound when we call out over the playground, "Ren, Esmé, come in for dinner!"
We sure dodged a bullet on that one.

[XTCamus]

My wife and I actually combined our last names when we married, but it worked out really well poetically.

So your last names were CatO and fGrey? That did work out well.

[MongoTheGeek]

I downloaded the zip and used my beloved grep...

Parents named their children Dilbert at least into the 20's (e-Dilbert-o shows up more recently)

Code: Select all

MongoLT:~ Mongo$ grep -i dilbert /Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/*
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1916.txt:Dilbert,M,6
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1926.txt:Dilbert,M,5
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1928.txt:Dilbert,M,7


Female is a used name since 81...

Code: Select all

MongoLT:~ Mongo$ grep -i female /Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/*
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1981.txt:Female,F,5
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1982.txt:Female,F,6
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1983.txt:Female,F,5
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1984.txt:Female,F,8
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1985.txt:Female,F,6
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1986.txt:Female,F,10
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1987.txt:Female,F,32
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1988.txt:Female,F,57
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1989.txt:Female,F,43
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1990.txt:Female,F,156
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1991.txt:Female,F,149
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1992.txt:Female,F,94
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1993.txt:Female,F,90
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1994.txt:Female,F,106
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1995.txt:Female,F,106
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1996.txt:Female,F,42
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1997.txt:Female,F,22
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1998.txt:Female,F,22
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1999.txt:Female,F,23
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob2000.txt:Female,F,17
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob2001.txt:Female,F,15
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob2002.txt:Female,F,20
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob2003.txt:Female,F,8
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob2004.txt:Female,F,5
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob2005.txt:Female,F,8
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob2005.txt:Infantfemale,F,5
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob2006.txt:Female,F,5
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob2010.txt:Female,F,28


even for boys on occasion (Seriously!)

Code: Select all

/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1989.txt:Female,M,5 


Boys named Sue back to WWI. Missing in 1969 when the song came out.

MongoLT:~ Mongo$ grep Sue,M /Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/*
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1917.txt:Sue,M,7
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1927.txt:Sue,M,5
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1928.txt:Sue,M,5
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1930.txt:Sue,M,5
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1931.txt:Sue,M,6
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1932.txt:Sue,M,7
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1933.txt:Sue,M,7
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1934.txt:Sue,M,14
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1935.txt:Sue,M,13
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1936.txt:Sue,M,9
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1937.txt:Sue,M,12
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1938.txt:Sue,M,10
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1940.txt:Sue,M,8
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1941.txt:Sue,M,16
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1942.txt:Sue,M,15
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1943.txt:Sue,M,19
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1944.txt:Sue,M,15
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1945.txt:Sue,M,16
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1946.txt:Sue,M,17
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1947.txt:Sue,M,12
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1948.txt:Sue,M,10
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1949.txt:Sue,M,11
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1950.txt:Sue,M,9
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1951.txt:Sue,M,14
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1953.txt:Sue,M,8
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1955.txt:Sue,M,8
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1957.txt:Sue,M,10
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1958.txt:Sue,M,15
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1959.txt:Sue,M,11
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1960.txt:Sue,M,6
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1961.txt:Sue,M,9
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1963.txt:Sue,M,6
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1964.txt:Sue,M,10
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1966.txt:Sue,M,8
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1971.txt:Sue,M,5
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1974.txt:Sue,M,5
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1979.txt:Sue,M,5
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1981.txt:Sue,M,7
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1982.txt:Sue,M,11
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1983.txt:Sue,M,8
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1984.txt:Sue,M,8
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1985.txt:Sue,M,11
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1986.txt:Sue,M,8
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1987.txt:Sue,M,8
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1988.txt:Sue,M,18
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1989.txt:Sue,M,14
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1990.txt:Sue,M,11
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1991.txt:Sue,M,10
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1992.txt:Sue,M,7
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1993.txt:Sue,M,10
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1994.txt:Sue,M,9
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob1996.txt:Sue,M,11

And back on topic 65 Renesmees born to Twilight fans.

Code: Select all

MongoLT:~ Mongo$ grep -i renesmee /Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/*
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob2009.txt:Renesmee,F,18
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob2010.txt:Renesmee,F,47


Scraping the bottom of the barrel. (only names with 5 or more occurences are listed

Code: Select all

MongoLT:~ Mongo$ grep ,5  /Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/*
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob2010.txt:Treasure,M,5
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob2010.txt:Zyquarius,M,5
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob2010.txt:Zzyzx,M,5


Code: Select all

MongoLT:~ Mongo$ grep Name,  /Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/*
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob2010.txt:Name,F,11
/Users/Mongo/Downloads/names/yob2010.txt:Name,M,13


No love for "None","First","Last","Bacon","Steak", "Mongo", or "Xyzzy"

[webdude]

I also know an American couple who moved to Israel and would rather their children not move back to the U.S., but wanted everyone to retain their American citizenship (for American passports, in case the State of Israel is destroyed, etc.). They all have normal Israeli names, with the last name "Berkowicz" (spelling changed to protect the guilty).

They tried not giving one child a first name when they applied for a passport. The State Department rejected the application, so they named him "Just." Get it? No first name, "Just Berkowicz."

Second child: First name: Berkowicz. Middle name: James. Full name: Berkowicz. James Berkowicz.

The BJB name cracked me up. I hope he says his name using the James Bond inflection. What if Bond's parents (in the guise of Ian Fleming's ego) actually gave him the name, Bond James Bond?

[eran_rathan]

Immigrant names as recorded in English by immigration officers (Ellis Island, etc) were often written phonetically/ or as best one could manage to read approximately similar- and that was when the immigrant actually gave their actual name, as opposed to trying to Americanify it on the spot (lots of immigrants have the first name "John"...

This happened to my grandparents, who, when entering Ellis Island from Poland circa 1946, were told to change their last name from Wechislowski to Wechsler, because it was less Jewish.

[Koppology]

I'd just like to append my suggestion to this long list of suggestions: "Adenine." Actually quite a nice name once you get over the nerdiness. Also if you have twins you can name the other "Thymine."

Congrats Randall!

[lesmith11]

Everytime my grandparents had a girl the mother tried to call it Priscilla... Luckily granddad refused and they all had good biblical names instead

What's wrong with Priscila? It's a very normal and quite common brazilian name

I don't know really. A few reasons I thought of is:

It was old fashioned even 40 years ago (?)
It wouldn't go with the surname Greenman.
Their nickname could be Prissy.

Anyway, my mum and aunts are all glad they didn't get that name.

[lesmith11]

Everytime my grandparents had a girl the mother tried to call it Priscilla... Luckily granddad refused and they all had good biblical names instead

What's wrong with Priscila? It's a very normal and quite common brazilian name

I hope lesmith11 is joking. Priscilla is a Biblical name.

I am aware of that yes

[Velict]

I really hope that Herp and Derpina actually become names at some point. Stranger things have happened.

[Oflick]

I was a little disappointed that:

a) No one on this thread yet posted what the significance of the name 'Renesmee' is.
b) That, upon google search, I found that the name Renesmee was a twilight reference/joke.

Has it been pointed out in the past 7 pages that your post was the second reply, which is too early to complain that nobody has posted about something?

I could comment on bad baby names, but I feel I'd just be repeating what I've already said in the "think before naming your child" thread. Though I once tried (jokingly) to get someone to name their child "Shower head extension #2". I thought it was funny, but it probably wasn't (I don't mean from an offensive standpoint, I mean it just wasn't funny).

[jjcote]

Many diseases would make okay names (well, if you were in Ancient Rome)...

Chlamydia, Septicaemia, and so on....

I know of a case of clueless parents who gave their daughter the delightful-sounding name "Candida".

[drewder]

What percent of the people saying "I didn't know who that was" really are closet twilight fans...

[XTCamus]

I'm embarrassed to admit I know this much about those crap books, but Corbo's right: Renesmee is the result of a violent impact between "Esme" and "Renee".

Nooo. It's the result of the violent impact of Rene Descartes and Mr. Smee

renesmee.jpg

Too funny. And just look at the eyes, their natural chemistry is undeniable.

[Uzh]

Sometimes I'm very glad to live in a country where you have to proove that the name you want to give already exists. And you are forbidden to give a name which can be used to make fun of the child. Plus the gender of the child should surely be recognised from the name.

You're German? The last requirement has been dropped, gender-neutral names are now allowed.

I am. A friend of mine who married a japanese had to give his sons german middle names to make sure everyone can classify the japanese first names to be male. Especially his second son, whose name ends with -a, so he needs it...

I have to dive deep into the Personenstandsgesetzgebung to research this fact.

By now it's quite researched, whether younger underclass parents tend to give especially strange sounding names (which they usually can't pronounce...). This is called "Chantalism" or "Kevinism"

Some Germanistik student/Doktorand writing some paper isn't "researched".

Thank you for the correction. I tried to over-simplify things.

In reality, rare, unusual or strange names start out in the upper class. Within a couple of years they migrate down, to the distaste of the upper class. This is not new. Double names (like Anne-Marie) started out in the German upper class in the 19th century.

That sounds quite reasonable. But especially the trend to give most foreign-sounding names seems to me not too much upper-class-trend but rather to specialice the own child...

[Pfhorrest]

I am curious what everyone here thinks of names like mine ("Forrest"). Certainly not an ordinary name, but far from Shi'thead or whatever the worst name on your most-hated list is, too. Personally, I've become a fan of giving kids ordinary first names and interesting middle names (unlike me, interesting first name and ordinary middle name), so that they have an interesting name to go by if they like, but can default to an ordinary one if they don't like.

Also: Germany was until recently regulating what kind of names people could have? Man, and I thought the Nazis lost power there like 70+ years ago....

[Uzh]

Also: Germany was until recently regulating what kind of names people could have? Man, and I thought the Nazis lost power there like 70+ years ago....

I was corrected by Monika and after that I looked it up. In Germany you have to register your child's name. The rules for the registration (which names are "allowed", which are not") is not codified. We have a kind of case law (quite unusual in continental Europe) and certain administrative rules, which binds the officers who have to conduct the registrations. In 2008 the High Court dropped a rule for the civil registries, which states that a name has to identify the gender of it's bearer. If you are quite familiar with some german you can have a look at http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vorname_(Deutschland)#Gerichtsentscheidungen_.C3.BCber_Vornamen, some cases whether names were allowed, allowed under certain circumstances and abandoned.

The rules state the following (according to Jimmy Wales):
The name
- has to be recognizable as a name (whatever that means)
- does not neccessarily have to identify the gender
- must not be able to damage the wealth of the child (by being rediculous or connecting it to something evil like "Cain" or "Judas")
- must not violate the religious feelings of other people ("Christ" might be difficult, "Jesus" should be OK, since it's quite a normal spanish name)
- must not be the name of a brand or a place
- must not be a usual family name
- must not be the title like Lord or Princess

So much for the Nazi rules in Germany.

[Monika]

Germany was until recently regulating what kind of names people could have?

Not until recently. They still do. And not just in Germany, a lot of countries do this. Maybe the countries where people are free to give their children any name including "Pepsi Cola" (that's an example from the UK) are even in the minority, I don't know.

Man, and I thought the Nazis lost power there like 70+ years ago....

This comment is very much not cool.

Also, your math is off. 2012-1945 = 67.

[JudeMorrigan]

I am curious what everyone here thinks of names like mine ("Forrest").

Forrest would have struck me as a very nice name, up until the point when Forrest Gump was released. Afterwards? Well, I know how sick *I* got with the "you know what I mean, Verne?" jokes I got being named Ernest. I can only imagine have many "clever" jokes you were subjected to.

[Pfhorrest]

I am curious what everyone here thinks of names like mine ("Forrest").

Forrest would have struck me as a very nice name, up until the point when Forrest Gump was released. Afterwards? Well, I know how sick *I* got with the "you know what I mean, Verne?" jokes I got being named Ernest. I can only imagine have many "clever" jokes you were subjected to.

It was annoying when the movie first came out, and I was in 6th or 7th grade, but back then I assumed the whole world was out to make fun of me and so was kind of sensitive to it. As my close friends kept making some of those same jokes, it grew to be more of a term of endearment (e.g. some people calling me "Gump" for a nickname), and now I make jokes about it myself, e.g. when excusing myself to use the restroom ("I gotta pee"), when bragging about my former track prowess which you wouldn't expect from my current figure ("You may not believe this, but I could run like the wind blew"), or when identifying my party while eating out at the Bubba Gump restaurant ("'My name's Forrest'. No, really, it is. Party of two for 'Forrest'. Yes, really. Here's my ID.").

It also doesn't hurt to realize, especially after reading the book the movie is based on, that Forrest Gump is not some simpleton idiot; everybody mistakenly thinks that he is, but every task he actually sits down to do, he is hyper-competent at. Stupid is as stupid does, and he does smart no matter how stupid some people might think he is. He just doesn't quite get a lot of social nuances, and all the actually stupid people around him think that those are more important than actually Getting Shit Done, and so think him stupid for it. I can empathize with that a lot, so I don't really mind the comparison anymore.

Apparently "Forrest" was one of the top baby boy's name for a few years after the movie came out, too, so I imagine there are a lot more of us out there now. There were two others my age in my home town with that name, too, but then Ojai was hippyville back then.

And that's all I gots to say about that.

[Ronsonic]

Also: Germany was until recently regulating what kind of names people could have? Man, and I thought the Nazis lost power there like 70+ years ago....

They aren't Nazis anymore, but they are and will remain German.

[OBloodyHell]

.

I am wonderfully proud to say that I had no FREAKING idea what this one was about until I did a search on Renesmee.

.